History of Sex Toys: Vibrators, Cock Rings, Dildos, Butt Plugs

Some aspects of humanity have remained remarkably consistent throughout human history, and one of those is the quest for sexual pleasure and fulfillment. It’s no surprise that people have been crafting sex toys for nearly 30,000 years. Read on to learn more about the history of sex toys and some of these crafts!

The Oldest Known Dildos

Archaeologists from Tübingen University discovered a highly polished, carefully carved representation of an erect penis in Hohle Fels Cave in Swabia. It’s not easy to polish siltstone to a smooth finish, so the fact that this sculpture was so finely finished suggests that the creator intended it for internal use.

It is estimated to be about 28,000 years old. This puts it in the Upper Paleolithic period; for context, the earliest known ovens date back 29,000 years and the first use of fibers for clothes and baby carriers was 26,000 years ago, so you can see where sex toys rank in the context of civilization. (We should note that even older phallic objects have been discovered — the oldest being approximately 40,000 years old in Eurasia – but there is less convincing evidence that they were actually used as sex toys.)

And because we know that you are wondering: this dildo measures 20 cm long and 3 cm wide (7.8” length, 3.7” girth).

More really, really old dildos:

• Turkey, ~6000 BCE: Sculptures (likely dildos) of genitalia discovered.
• Sweden, ~4000 BCE to ~2000 BCE (Mesolithic era): Dildo discovered in Motala.
• Babylon, ~593 BCE to ~571 BCE: In Ezekiel 16:17 (Old Testament), the people of Jerusalem “took the gold and silver” and made “phallic images and fornicated with them.”
• Greece, 5 BCE and before: Olisbokollikes were dildos baked out of bread dough and lubricated with olive oil. There are also contemporary references to leather dildos in plays such as Lysistrata (411 BCE).
• India, 400 BCE-200 CE: Kama Sutra recommends the use of strap-on dildos.
• Rome, ~0 BCE/CE: Disembodied wooden phallus found at the fort of Vindolanda. This was first described by archaeologists in 1992 as a darning tool, either due to squeamishness or naïveté. We need more women in archaeology! It measures 16cm (6.3”) but is believed to have shrunk with age (hey, it happens to the best of us!).
• China, ~206 BCE to ~9 CE (Han Dynasty): Tombs of the nobility contained bronze strap-on dildos and jade butt plugs. Jade was believed to ward off evil spirits.

Vibrators (And Other Vagina Toys)!

Queen Cleopatra (Egypt, ~50 BCE) was rumored to have filled a gourd with bees and used it as a vibrator. While this has not been proven, it does show that humans have understood for thousands of years that vibrations down there are highly desirable.

Kegel exercises are also not a new invention, even if they were not known by that name until Dr. Kegel published in 1948. Ben-wa balls, which are weights used to strengthen the vaginal and pelvic floor muscles as well as to stimulate the vagina, were invented in Japan around 500 CE.

The first “modern” vibrator, the Tremoussoir, was invented in France in 1734. You’ll probably note that this was before electricity was harnessed; this vibrator was wound with a key and it was used exclusively by doctors to treat female hysteria by inducing paroxysms, which sound an awful lot like orgasms to us. To be transparent, historians are divided on this; however, remember that academics originally catalogued a 6+” carved and polished phallus as a “darning tool.”

Also in France, and later throughout Europe, pelvic douches and hydrotherapy spas addressed female hysteria by aiming very strong hand-cranked water jets between women’s legs. Contemporary medical literature claimed that this could effect a hysterical paroxysm in under four minutes. The Womanizer Wave is not quite as innovative as it thinks it is, which of course doesn’t make it any less exhilarating.

Vibrators and vibrator users really came into their own in the 19^th century. In 1869, American doctor George Taylor created a steam-powered vibrator table known as the Manipulator (predecessor to today’s Sybian, Motorbunny Buck, Hismith Premium and 4.0, and Lovense Sex Machine — clearly a man ahead of his time). The engine sat in one room, and the apparatus protruded through an opening in the wall, so Dr. Taylor can also be credited with inventing the glory hole.

And Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville developed the first electromechanical massager, the Granville Hammer, although he intended it for use on men to treat muscle fatigue. Dr. Granville was very concerned that women would fake symptoms of hysteria in order to get access to this powerful massager. Granville did, however, recommend that the device be used on men’s perineums to increase their sexual power.

Approaching the turn of the century, doctors blamed higher rates of hysteria on women obtaining educations and jobs outside the home. This, combined with the Industrial Revolution, created a booming vibrator market. Vibrators were among the first home appliances to be electrified, along with the sewing machine and toaster. (Remember that Paleolithic people “invented” dildos along with ovens and baby carriers? Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.)

“The vibrator kind of split into two product lines,” explained technology historian Rachel Maines. “One was for doctors and one was for consumers and doctors really hated the idea that there were consumer vibrators out there.” Out there they were, though. Products like Dr. Macaura’s Pulsocon Blood Circulator (which resembles an egg beater), the Andis Vibrator, and the Detwiller Pneumatic Vibrator were sold openly.

In the 1920s, vibrators started to make appearances in stag films. This made them less credible in the medical establishment’s eyes, and doctors were reluctant to prescribe them. By 1952, hysteria no longer appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and vibrators went underground for a bit.

Penis Toys, Butt Plugs, and Sex Dolls

Religion in ancient Rome considered sexuality to be one aspect of prosperity. Cock rings represented power and prestige, and they were ornately crafted and gem-studded. Gladiators (~105 BCE to ~404 CE) even wore them in combat.

Similarly, in Jin Dynasty China, ~1100 to ~1250 CE, nobles believed that wearing cock rings during intercourse would increase their chances of siring an heir. Some of these cock rings were intricately carved jade and ivory, but cock rings made from goat eyelids were also popular. The eyelashes were left intact and hardened to stimulate the receiving partner.

Butt plugs have almost as much history as dildos (especially because it’s very possible that some of the smaller phallic-shaped artifacts were used anally as well as vaginally). They also have a place in the chronicles of the American health and wellness industry.

Dr. Frank Young patented his Ideal Rectal Dilators in Canton, Ohio in 1893. They were sold in a graduated set to “restore circulation and health,” and treat a wide range of ailments ranging from headaches to constipation. Over the next few decades, anal dilators became very popular. Some models even had a reservoir and could shoot liquid into the rectum, for health purposes of course. However, in 1938, the Federal Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics Act banned these devices for false advertising.

There have been accounts of people (usually men, although men are over-represented in all of recorded history) falling in love with statues, starting with Pygmalion and Galatea in 8 CE.

16^th-century French sailors took sexual frustration into their own hands, so to speak, and created dames de voyage to take on board with them. These were straw-stuffed mannequins dressed in women’s clothing, and there was typically one per ship. Sailors often returned to port with sexually transmitted infections, so we can draw some unsavory conclusions here. Dutch sailors also created masturbators, but theirs were leather and they were puppets. They traded these in Japanese ports, and they became known as “Dutch wives.”

Just like the Industrial Revolution spurred the development of electric vibrators, the invention of vulcanized rubber in 1839 and the colonization of Brazil for its rubber resources led to the introduction of femmes en caoutchouc (rubber women), sold through rubber goods catalogues in France and America. Discerning gentlemen could even customize their dolls to resemble “any actual person, living or dead.”

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that this article focuses on the ancient and post-Industrial Revolution time periods. We are sex toy aficionados, not historians conducting primary source research. The term “Dark Ages” is now (correctly) considered to be unnecessarily derogatory, but it is true that there are considerably fewer published historical records from this era.

And people got more prudish around the Early Modern period. In 1670, British customs started seizing and destroying imported dildos, and prosecuting Englishwomen who made their own. Japan banned shunga (erotic pictures and books that featured masturbation and dildos) in 1722. So basically, we’re just reporting what’s already out there.

We hope that the takeaway is that humans have been enjoying sex and sex toys for millennia, and that the stigma that some attach to this is relatively recent. There is nothing more normal than self-care, and our ancestors knew and respected this.

Happy vibing!

Maggie

Maggie Hart has written about sexual well-being and sexuality in society for quite a few years now. She is active in communities that celebrate sex for older adults.

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