What’s the Big Deal Though? – A Guide to & Brief History of Dildos

Dildos are often described as the ultimate bread-and-butter products of the adult toy industry. You can find dildos in any sex toy store regardless of target market and, they also tend to appear in completely nonsexual contexts – be that about politics, in viral Amazon reviews or as hilarious dog chew toys. They are pretty much ubiquitous in human society, and for some reason we appear to be infinitely creative and innovative when it comes to this simple penetrative toy – from 4-inch peckers to 15-inch beasts, from the glass beauty to the purple monster.

But dildos have been around a lot longer than you may think, so the fact that they come in such a huge variety of sizes, colours, shapes and materials nowadays is not that surprising – apparently humanity had about 30.000 years to perfect them.

Read our short guide to dildos below to learn about the fascinating history of these pleasure products. Help your customers choose the right dong with one of our highlighted bestsellers and find out what sets the phallic apart from the pegging dildo and why do balls matter after all.

“My little dilldo shall suply their kinde” – The History of the Dildo

According to some archaeologists, humans already made dildos as early as during the Stone Age, some 30 thousand years ago. While it might be a stretch to classify these artifacts recovered from earlier eras as sex toys, it’s clear that the need for penetrative items far predates our recorded history.

Ancient Greek vase art already portrayed dildos in a clear and explicitly sexual manner often used in orgies or masturbation scenes. Not to mention the bizarre breadstick dildos, the olisbokollikes that were recovered from 5^th century Greece, and tend to top all the “weirdest sex toys” lists around the Internet.

The ancient Chinese elite prepared tombs for themselves stocked with all the Earthly luxury they enjoyed in life including exquisitely decorated bronze dildos, so our modern appetite for high end sex toys is not a new human quirk either. And who didn’t think to themselves before – just bury me with my phone, my car and my favourite dildo?!

While many civilizations before ours invested and invented in sexual pleasure for both sexes, we tend to think that this quest is a modern one.

Of course, with Christianity spreading quickly in Europe and beyond in the early middle ages, dildos soon become unmentionables along with humanity’s accumulated knowledge of pleasure, sex and having a shared good time. No matter how common their existence remained throughout history, polite circles shunned the phallic and exiled dildos to taboo-land.

And that is where early dildos – along with other early sex toys like the anal dilators of the 1800s, the first electromechanical vibrators of the 1880s or the “sport” massager wands of the 1950s – remained up until the sexual revolution of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Dildos, however, been around a lot longer, so let’s have a look where all this history, experience and evolution took this humble tool of pleasure now.

Dings, Dongs & Everything In-Between – The Dildo Dissected

To Penis or Not To Penis, That Is the Question

There’s one obvious line that can easily separate a dildo from another – some look like penises and some don’t.

Lifelike dildos like the Loving Joy Real Feel range offer a realistic experience for those in love with the shape and feel of the human penis. They can be used for both solo and partnered fun and they often feature a suction cup at the base to add further variety.

Realistic dildos feature a pronounced, bulbous penis head, usually circumcised, although uncut dildos are now available too. Raised veins along the shaft don’t just make the appearance of the toy more realistic but they can also provide extra internal stimulation.

Balls often feature on dildos, but many come without them too. While the inclusion of balls has primarily aesthetic purposes, textured testicles at the base of the dildo shaft can also provide external stimulation when the dildo is fully inserted. Brands like King Cock aim to create perfect replicas of the penis which makes their range of dildos an absolute favourite with customers seeking an experience paralleled only by real life.

Penis shaped dildos can also come in very non-penis-like colours, primarily for novelty’s sake. For example, the Glow in the Dark 7 Inch Cock from Blush Novelties is bright pink under the daylight, while Doc Johnson’s Crystal Jellies come in deep purples and soft pinks.

It’s in the Shape

As we learn more and more about anatomy and the various pleasure points of the human body, the different shapes our sex toys take have begun to change drastically too. Nowadays, the imperfectly straight penis can be improved upon with curves, ridges and slopes to offer more accurate internal stimulation and a range of sensations during penetration. Smooth, non-realistic toys like the Loving Joy Curved 5-inch Silicone Dildo can provide targeted prostate massage during pegging and they are ideal for G-spot stimulation too. There are toys with more pronounced textures that offer customers a more intense experience during use.

Non-realistic dildos are often preferred by lesbian women for strap-on or other type of penetrative sex, and they are popular with heterosexual men who enjoy anal play.

Double Trouble

Double ended dildos can be used by two people inserting one end of the toy each or solo with one end inserted vaginally and the other anally. This type of dildo can offer the experience of double penetration during masturbation, without the need for two separate toys. It can also enable couples (straight, gay and lesbian) to enjoy penetration simultaneously enhancing intimacy and shared pleasure.

Like their single ended brothers, double enders can be realistic – where the toy has a penis head on each end -, or non-realistic like the Alive Luna Silicone Double Dildo.

Material Boy

While silicone is currently the most sought-after sex toy material, there are some aspects your customers can consider before deciding on their dildo material. Silicone is usually smooth, firm but with some flexibility and give – this makes it a very popular choice with people who are more sensitive and know exactly what they enjoy internally.

Metal and glass are also very popular materials as they make for a hard, rigid dildo that offer an intense, relentless, stretching sensation. They are also great for temperature play as they can be heated up in warm water or cooled down in the freezer and they are super hygienic too as they can be thoroughly sanitised. Glass dildos like the Icicles range look almost like modern art pieces, the material lends itself easily to aesthetically intriguing and creative shapes and forms, so your customers can even display their pleasure products on their bedside tables, if they are just slightly more daring.

This Sucks!

Both realistic and non-realistic dildos often come with a suction cup base that enables the user to fix the toy to a flat surface such as the wall or a smooth floor and penetrate themselves without having to use their hands. It also allows both men and women to continue the stimulation of their other erogenous zones while using an insertable toy.

Dildos equipped with a suction cup can be used with a strap-on harness for pegging or any other penetrative fun. Most harnesses come with a selection of O-rings that allows for the use of different sized dildos, so your customers can always add new, exciting dildos to their harness-compatible collection.

Outside the Box

There are some toys that don’t fall that easily into the dildo category as they also belong to other sex toys categories. For example, realistic vibrators could also be called vibrating dildos. Similarly, hollow strap-ons designed to help men with erectile dysfunction could also be called dildos due to their realistic shape, but they primarily belong to the penis extensions, penis sleeve category.

Definitions may vary, but the following tend to be true about all dildos – they are phallic in shape and designed to be used for the penetration of the vagina or anus.

ProTip: Finding the perfect girth and length might just be the most personal decision customers make when selecting a dildo. Not everyone prefers big dildos, so if possible, make sure you stock a wide range of sizes from the smallest, thinnest to the largest, thickets dildos to satisfy both newbies and size queens and kings.

Hope you enjoyed this guide about dildos and learnt a new fact or two. Now let’s hear about your favourite dildo selling techniques, best dildo factoid or bestselling dong!

Have any suggestions about what we should cover next? Struggling with any product type in particular? Have any feedback on this entry? Let us know in the comments section below, we would love to hear from you!