Ancient Greece The first known use of a dildo comes from Ancient Greece, where merchants sold something called an olisbos. Fashioned from stone, leather, or even wood, the olisbos became a tool bought primarily by single women - or so the evidence would have us believe. To question this philosophy is only natural, as the same general impression (that dildos are owned by mainly single women) persists today. But we now know that dildos are enjoyed by men and women from all walks of life.
"Diletto": The Delight of the Dildo Now on to Renaissance Italy, where olisbos became diletto, from the Italian for delight. Even using olive oil as a lubricant (its true!), the diletto was not as comfortable as today's dildos.
Victorian Times It was around the mid-nineteenth century when the world was first introduced to the rubber dildo. The Victorian Rubber dildos were much more comfortable and 'life-like' than anything introduced previously. (Remember they were made from wood or stone? ouch!)It was also during the Victorian Era that the first vibrator was introduced. At the time, vibrators were prescribed to treat a condition known as "hysteria". This term comes from the Greek hystera, meaning "uterus," and reflects the ancient and patently false notion that psychiatric disorders in women spring from disturbances in the uterus. At the time, women were not regarded as sexual beings, and the use of a vibrator for sexual pleasure would have been regarded as scandalous. In turn, vibrators grew in popularity by being marketed as massagers. By the early twentieth century vibrators began to appear in early erotic cinema. Their popularity dropped in the 1940s, when the advertisement of such products experienced a steady decline.
Today In the last 30 years sex toys have experienced a revival, of sorts. Unfortunately, the seventies saw the growth of substandard products with a generally sexist tone to their marketing i.e everything was shaped like a willy! During the eighties things began to improve thanks to the new attitude of companies like Soundsnaughty.The nineties saw a continuation of this trend with numerous female friendly shops and online stores providing a comfortable place to shop for sex toys.On to Why Buy a Vibrator
