16 Weird and Interesting Facts About Sex Toys You Probably Didn’t Know

Vibrators and dildos aren’t a 21st-century invention. They’ve been around a very long time, but not a lot of people know that. Just like a lot of us don’t get great information about sex, in general, there’s a lot we don’t know about sex toys, too. Proper sex toy use, cleaning, and safety is a topic for another day. For now, let’s keep it fun, weird, and interesting with facts about sex toys you probably haven’t heard before.

Weird and Interesting Sex Toy Facts

1. The oldest known dildo is around 30,000 years old and was discovered in a cave in Germany.
2. The ancient Greeks used items called olisbokollikes which translates to “dildo breadsticks.”
3. Vibrators were invented to do multiple things, including treat “hysteria” in women. Before vibrators, doctors used oil and their fingers to massage the vulva and vagina as a treatment. Even back in the day, they knew an orgasm makes you feel better.
4. Electric vibrators were once advertised in catalogs next to toasters, sewing machines, and other small electronics. Of course, they weren’t labeled vibrators but instead called “personal massagers” at the time.
5. Vibrators have been used by actors in porn as far as back as the 1920s.

6. It’s illegal to own more than six dildos if you live in Texas.

7. Sex toy sales tend to boom during economic recessions and downturns. Which may explain why sex toy sales are surging in 2020.
8. When vibrators were still considered medical devices, instead of sex toys, they were more heavily marketed to men than to women.
9. Alabama continues to ban the sale of sex toys and has since the 1998 Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act passed.
10. Rabbit vibrators may be the most popular type of vibrator, but they come in other animal shapes too: turtles, dolphins, and more.
11. The rabbit vibrator was invented in Japan even though sex toy manufacturing was not allowed. The animal shape fooled regulators who were fooled into thinking they weren’t a vibrator but an innocent toy.
12. In surveys, 70 percent of men say they’re not threatened when their partner uses sex toys alone or during sex.

13. At one time, 38 percent of New Zealand owned a sex toy.

14. In the 1970s, Betty Dodson held workshops on how to use the Original Magic Wand (known at the time as the Hitachi) for women. One tip she offered: hold a towel over your vulva to dull the intensity of the vibrations.
15. More than 50 percent of women in the United States admit they’ve used a vibrator at least once. We think that number may be much higher, especially now.
16. The Original Magic Wand used to be owned by Hitachi. Once they figured out that their “personal massager” was being used as a vibrator, they stopped selling it. Vibratex now produces and sells the Original Magic Wand — as a vibrator, although it is colloquially still known as the “Hitachi.”

Conclusion

This is just the tip of a very sexy, weird iceberg in terms of sex toy facts. Diving into the history of vibrators and dildos, you learn how very old they really are. People have looked for ways to get off and experience sexual pleasure since the beginning of time. And, as you can see from this list, governments and people in power continue to think sex, pleasure, and toys are wrong or obscene. But that doesn’t stop people from getting their hands on a dildo, vibrator, or anything else that gives them the pleasure they crave.

If you live in a state that continues to outlaw sex toys (*cough* Alabama), you know the joy of online shopping. And no one counts how many dildos a Texan owns (nor should they). So keep playing, getting yourself off, and making your sex life the best it can be, and let yourself laugh at some of these weird and interesting facts.