Are you a dildo lover who has a growing collection of colorful, useful, phallic toys, one for every mood or desire? Have you recently bought your first dildo and spend all your time finding different ways you can enjoy it? Do you ever think about where dildos came from or who used them first?
Believe it or not, dildos aren’t a modern invention. They have a long history. Late 20th century and early 21-century folks aren’t the first to realize how good it is to get sexy with a phallus and insert it wherever you can make it fit.
Here are 15 fun facts about dildos you probably didn’t know!
The oldest known dildo is about 28,000 years old and was found in a cave in Germany. It’s nearly eight inches long and a little over one inch wide. For years scientists tried to figure out what it could possibly be used for but finally realized it was likely a pleasure tool.- Ancient Greeks used dildos, too. They called them olisbokollikes which roughly translates into “dildo breadsticks.”
- In a famous ancient Greek play, Lysistrata, the women in the story go on a sex strike, but that doesn’t mean they went without. During their protest, they used dildos to keep themselves satisfied.
- According to Italian writer, Pietro Aretino, in the 1500s, nuns used dildos to deal with their sexual urges and cravings. Bet that made confession fun for everyone.
- John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, imported dildos for his sex club in 1670. They were promptly destroyed, but it’s still a cool move.
- Also in England at that time, women who didn’t have access to the money or shipping options Wilmot did, made their own dildos.
- During that same basic time period, known as the Edo-period in Japan, the Japanese people depicted dildos and other forms of pleasure devices in their erotic books and images. This was known as “shunga.” By 1722, shunga was banned but women still purchased dildos, although undercover so as not to be found out.
- During the Western Han dynasty in China (roughly from 206 BC to 220 AD), rich people were often buried with their possessions in the belief they would need them in the afterlife. This included their bronze dildos.
- In the early 1970s, after an accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, Gosnell Duncan invented the first silicone dildo. He was a disabled activist and not just for sexual pleasure, although we’re all grateful to him for this particular contribution.
- It’s illegal to own more than six dildos in Texas, although the real question is how anyone would know.
- Surveyors have found that 64 percent of sex toy buyers use dildos and/or strap-ons.
- The three most popular sex toy purchases are, in order, vibrators, dildos, and lube.
- The band “Steely Dan” named themselves after a strap-on featured in a novel by William S. Burroughs called Naked Lunch. Be right back — got to go search online for this book.
- During recessions, sex toy sales spike. We might all be broke and jobless, but orgasms and sex have no spending limit.
- You can buy a dildo to keep the ashes of a deceased loved one as part of a 21 Grams memory box. No word, yet, if anyone’s dead lover is better in bed than they were alive.
Conclusion
Human beings are hard-wired for pleasure. Many (most) of us want sexual pleasure. It should come (pun intended) as no surprise that even ancient peoples found ways to get themselves off. Dildos are quite complex these days with different designs, materials, textures, and features. But even societies and cultures with limited technology and materials know that if it’s long enough, thick enough, and feels good enough, you can probably stick in your body somewhere.
Celebrate your love of dildos with some sexy fun time with your favorite one… or by sharing some of this trivia, especially with anyone who thinks sexual pleasure is somehow a modern invention. As long as humans have been alive, we’ve been trying to get off — with and without sex toys.
Share the dildo love and trivia by sharing our infographic below!
