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A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly Phallus in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with . Dildos are made from a number of materials. The shape and size are typically that of a human penis, but there is a wide variation to accommodate the needs of different users.
Other theories that have previously circulated include that the word dildo originally referred to the phallus-shaped peg used to lock an oar in position on a dory (small boat). It would be inserted into a hole on the side of the boat, and is very similar in shape to the modern toy. The sex toy might take its name from this sailing tool, which also lends its name to the town of Dildo and the nearby Dildo Island in Newfoundland, Canada. Others suggest the word is a corruption of Italian language diletto "delight".
According to the OED, one of the word's first appearances in English was in Thomas Nashe's The Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo (), in the sentence "Curse Eunuke dilldo, senceless, counterfet, | Who sooth maie fill, but neuer can begett" ('curse dildo, that eunuch, lacking feelings, and counterfeit, who can certainly fill a, but can never beget children').
An olisbos () is a classical term for a dildo, from Ancient Greek (ὄλισβος), originally a dildo that was usually made of leather. In French language, the word refers to a dildo in the shape of a penis with scrotum.
In some modern languages, the names for dildo can be more descriptive, creative or subtle—note, for instance, Bengali language (ডাল্ডা), Hindi (दर्शिल्दो), Russian language (фаллоимитатор, literally "phallic imitator"), Spanish language consolador ("consoler"), and Welsh language cala goeg ("fake penis").
Starting in 2012, 3D models of dildos became available for printing by individuals, offering size personalization. This, however, did not take off at that time, in part due to the porosity issue of the materials used (which is mainly a problem if no condom is used over the dildo). Some websites have continued to exist however. Besides printing it at home, it is also possible to print it off at a fablab, makerspace, or 3D printing marketplace. All of these avoid needing to purchase a personal 3D printer for printing off 3D models.
A dildo designed for anal insertion that then remains in place is usually referred to as a butt plug. A dildo intended for repeated anal penetration (thrusting) is typically referred to as an anal dildo or simply "dildo". Anal dildos and butt plugs generally have a large base to avoid accidental complete insertion into the rectum, which may require medical removal. Some women use double-ended dildos, with different-sized shafts pointing in the same direction, for simultaneous vaginal and anal penetration, or for two partners to share a single dildo. In the latter case, the dildo acts as a sort of "see-saw", where each partner takes an end and receives stimulation.
Some dildos are designed to be worn in a harness, sometimes called a strap-on dildo, or to be worn inside the vagina (then called strapless dildo or "strapless strap-on dildo"), sometimes with externally attached vibrating devices. Strap-on dildos may be double-ended, meant to be worn by users who want to experience vaginal or anal penetration while also penetrating a partner. They may also be used for anally penetrating men. If a female penetrates a male, the act is known as pegging.
Other types of dildos include those designed to be fitted to the face of one party, inflatable dildos, and dildos with suction cups attached to the base (sometimes referred to as a wall mount). Other types of harness mounts for dildos (besides strapping to the groin) include thigh mount, face mount, or furniture mounting straps.
The first dildos were made of stone, tar, wood, bone, ivory, limestone, teeth, and other materials that could be shaped as penises and that were firm enough to be used as penetrative sex toys. Scientists believe that a 20-centimeter siltstone phallus from the Upper Palaeolithic period 30,000 years ago, found in Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm, Germany, may have been used as a dildo. Prehistoric double-headed dildos have been found which date anywhere from 13 to 19,000 years ago. Various paintings from ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE feature dildos being used in a variety of ways. In the Middle Ages, a plant called the "cantonese groin" was soaked in hot water to enlarge and harden for women to use as dildos. Dildo-like , known as olisbokollikes (sing. olisbokollix), were known in Ancient Greece prior to the 5th century BC. In Italy during the 15th century, dildos were made of leather, wood, or stone. China women in the 15th century used dildos made of lacquered wood with textured surfaces, and were sometimes buried with them. Nashe's early-1590s work The Choise of Valentines mentions a dildo made from glass. Dildos also appeared in 17th and 18th century Japan, in shunga. In these erotic novels, women are shown enthusiastically buying dildos, some made out of water buffalo horns.
Dildos were not just used for sexual pleasure. Examples from the Eurasia Ice Age (40,000-10,000 BCE) and Roman era are speculated to have been used for defloration rituals. This is not the only example of dildos being used for ritual ceremonies, as people in 4000 BCE Pakistan used them to worship the god Shiva.
Many references to dildos exist in the history and ethnography literature. Haberlandt,Haberlandt, M. 1899. "Conträre Sexual-Erscheinungen bei der Neger-Bevölkerung Zanzibars", Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 31: 668–670 for example, illustrates single and double-ended wooden dildos from late 19th century Zanzibar. With the invention of modern materials, making dildos of different shapes, sizes, colors and textures became more practical.
They are mentioned several times in Aristophanes' comedy of 411 BCE, Lysistrata.
Herodas' short comic play, Mime VI, written in the 3rd century BCE, is about a woman called Metro, anxious to discover from a friend where she recently acquired a dildo.
She eventually discovers the maker to be a man called Kerdon, who hides his trade by the front of being a cobbler, and leaves to seek him out. Metro and Kerdon are main characters in the next play in the sequence, Mime VII, when she visits his shop.
Page duBois, a classicist and feminist theorist, suggests that dildos were present in Greek art because the ancient Greek male imagination found it difficult to conceive of sex taking place without penetration. Therefore, female masturbation or sex between women required an artificial phallus to be used. Greek dildos were often made out of leather stuffed with wool in order to give it varying degrees of thickness and firmness. They were often lubricated with olive oil, and used for sexual practice and other activities. The Greeks were also one of the first groups to use the term "toy" in reference to a dildo.
Dildos are humorously mentioned in Act IV, scene iv of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. This play and Ben Jonson's play The Alchemist (1610) are typically cited as the first use of the word in publication (Nashe's Merrie Ballad was not published until 1899).
John Wilmot, the seventeenth-century English libertine, published his poem Signor Dildo in 1673. During the Parliamentary session of that year, objections were raised to the proposed marriage of James, Duke of York, brother of the King and heir to the throne, to Mary of Modena, an Italian Catholic princess. An address was presented to King Charles on 3 November, foreseeing the dangerous consequences of marriage to a Catholic, and urging him to put a stop to any planned wedding '...to the unspeakable Joy and Comfort of all Your loyal Subjects." Wilmot's response was Signior Dildo (You ladies all of merry England), a mock address anticipating the 'solid' advantages of a Catholic marriage, namely the wholesale importation of Italian dildos, to the unspeakable joy and comfort of all the ladies of England:
This ballad was subsequently added to by other authors, and became so popular that Signor became a term for a dildo. In the epilogue to The Mistaken Husband (1674), by John Dryden, an actress complains:
Signor Dildo was set to music by Michael Nyman for the 2004 biopic, The Libertine.
Many other works of bawdy and satirical English literature of the period deal with the subject. (London, 1706), attributed to Samuel Butler, is a mock lament to a collection of dildos that had been seized and publicly burnt by the authorities. Examples of anonymous works include The Bauble, a tale (London, 1721) and Monsieur Thing's Origin: or Seignor D---o's Adventures in London, (London, 1722).Wagner (1987), p.53 In 1746, Henry Fielding wrote The Female Husband: or the surprising history of Mrs Mary, alias Mr. George Hamilton, in which a woman poses as a man and uses a dildo. This was a fictionalized account of the story of Mary Hamilton.Wagner (1987), p.54 The 1748 chapbook A Spy on Mother Midnight depicts an innocent country girl who travels with a dildo and a copy of Rochester's dildo poem in her luggage.
The Wellcome Collection, a London museum of medicine, owns several dildos made from wood, cloth or ivory, including one ivory example possibly made in France in the 18th century.
In February 2008, a United States federal appeals court overturned a Texas statute banning the sales of dildos and other sexual toys, deeming such a statute as violating the Constitution's 14th Amendment on the right to privacy. The appeals court cited Lawrence v. Texas, where the Supreme Court of the United States in 2003 struck down bans on consensual sex between gay couples, as unconstitutionally aiming at "enforcing a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct." Similar statutes have been struck down in Kansas and Colorado. Alabama is the only state where a law prohibiting the sale of sex toys remains on the books.
Some Conservatism Christians believe that the use of sex toys is immoral. The Southern Baptist preacher Dan Ireland has been an outspoken critic of such devices and has fought to ban them on religious and ethical grounds. Ireland led an effort to outlaw dildos and other sex toys in Alabama to "...protect the public against themselves." Other Christian religious leaders such as Evangelical Lutheran Church of America pastor Heidi Johnson, who founded a student group on sexuality at Duke Divinity School, have a positive view of sex toys in Christian sexuality.
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