The Proud History of the Noble Dildo
In its familiar form as an artificial phallus for vaginal stimulation, the dildo has been with humanity for millennia. Dildos have been used both for masturbatory pleasure and in conjunction with a partner for dildo play, and in modern times, the dildo’s basic shape and configuration has gone through a variety of permutation as specialty dildos equipped with nubs on the tip for additional stimulation to dildos shaped to pleasure the g-spot, the p-spot, and all points in between have accompanied the traditional phallic shaped dildo on sex toy shop shelves. The dildo has been a familiar object for ages, enhancing sensuality down through the years, and the dildo has a long and storied history.
“Batons” dating back to Paleolithic times have the size, shape, and artistic embellishment to suggest that these were some of humanity’s first dildos, even if archaeologists were prudishly reluctant to describe them as such. A siltstone phallus found in Germany and dated to approximately 28,000 B.C. is acknowledged as the oldest known dildo, and excavations have demonstrated that dildo use was common in both the ancient Egyptian and Greek cultures.
Phallic imagery had been part of ancient fertility rituals since humanity decided that there were gods to appease for our fecundity, and primitive dildos, often fashioned of camel dung, were part of ritualistic culture, and dildos were used to enhance sexual activities in the home. The camel dung would be coated with resin to create a smooth dildo appliance suitable for sexual pleasure. Sure, those dildos were probably pretty fragrant, but health and hygiene concerns weren’t pressing issues in that era.
In western society, where The Catholic Church’s teaching held sway over all sexual matters throughout most of the first two millennia A.D., the dildo wasn’t a common object in households anymore. When more sexually liberated women of the Middle Ages experimented with dildos for masturbation, their dildos were improvised – phallic-shaped fruits and vegetables along with found objects.
Beginning in the Victorian Age, dildos regained a veneer of social respectability. Sort of. Many women were diagnosed with “hysteria” by physicians of the era. They’d experience irritability, have irrational fantasies, and exhibit behaviors untoward in proper women of the time. Often, a dildo would be dispensed to relieve the patient of these hysterical symptoms, although dildos would never be called as such. Dildos were therapeutic devices to be used for medicinal purposes only. Mm-hmm. Still, the dildo made its stealthy way back into society. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, respected retailers like Sears Roebuck would have dildo advertisements in their catalogs, extolling the dildo’s virtues as the perfect device to relieve women’s anxiety and tension. However they were marketed, they sold well, and dildos infiltrated many households, often clandestinely stashed in a lady’s undergarment drawer.
After the sexual revolution of the late 1960’s, dildos weren’t nearly as scandalous as in ages past, and dildos became part of many womens’ bedroom essentials. Dildos are popular with couples and with gay men, opening new vistas of sensual possibilities. Dildos were freely available in sex shops and also via mail order for dildo purchasers wanting to ensure discretion. Today, online point-and-click ordering can have a dildo at your doorstep in a few short business days. 547 Nowadays, your dildo can come in all sorts of configurations with various special features – vibration, double-headed, curved to reach the g-spot – there’s a dildo for every taste. A versatile toy with a storied history, the dildo’s been a favorite sensual toy for millennia and dildos are likely to be ubiquitous as long as humanity exists.
