Sex Inventions That Go Back Several Hundred Years

  • Added:
    Aug 12, 2014
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Sex Inventions That Go Back Several Hundred Years Photo by Melroy Pinto

When we talk about sex products, many of us are under the impression that personal care products, sex toys and other such items are relatively modern inventions. Turns out however that sex toys and adult products are not just the purvey of us in the online space. Even before adult online shopping, some very common sex inventions were making the rounds. This article takes a closer look at these inventions, and gives you an overview of what they were.


Human beings’ fascination with sex and sexual exploration isn’t a new found phenomenon. It may seem like that in the age of adult online shopping, but many of the sex inventions we take for granted today have been around in one form or another, some for millennia. Sex products in India are an especially new phenomena, but it will surprise the readers to know that quite a many sex inventions are actually Indian in origin. Some of these sex inventions go back hundreds of years, some even thousands.


1) Lubricants (Ancient Greece, circa 350 B.C)


The first mention of lubricant, a staple of adult online shopping, was in 350 B.C in ancient Greece. Reputed sophist Aristotle and after him, thinkers like Herodotus, Hippocrates and others advocated the use of olive oil as a lubricant during sex. In fact, Hippocrates, widely venerated as the father of modern medicine, prescribed olive oil as a lube, to people who were facing trouble with penetrative sex. So the next time you indulge in adult online shopping, and you come across the lubricants section, know that they were invented and used even by great philosophers and scholars.


2) The Vibrator/Body Massager: (England, 1880)


In Victorian England, aristocratic women were often lonely and incredibly sexually repressed. This repression would often manifest itself in acute depression and extreme mood swings. This sort of a condition was diagnosed by doctors as ‘hysteria’ and a clitoral massage was prescribed as a ‘therapy’ for the treatment of the same. Over time,this became a legitimate ‘medical’ treatment, which would involve a physician, stimulating a woman’s clitoris manually. The physician’s ‘treating’ hysteria, began reporting stiffness in the wrists and aching fingers. It was to the relief of these doctors that J. Granville in 1880 released the electrical body massager, which would over the next century turn out to be the most sought after online sex toy.


3) Condoms (Europe, late 1500s)


In Medieval Europe, the period between the 13th to the 16th centuries is known as the Dark Ages. It was also at this time that the continent was ravaged by a plague of STDs, including syphilis. With the death toll mounting and people living in constant fear of sex, Gabriello Fallopio, an Italian ‘chemist’ proposed the first ‘condom’, a sheepskin sheath, soaked in chemicals and dried, worn during sex. It worked wonderfully well and as a result, the syphilis epidemic was brought under control. So the next time you shop for personal care products and reach out for that packet of condoms, you know who to thank.


4) Penile Enhancement (India, 3rd century A.D.)


Penile enhancement was first spoken of in the Kamasutra. While many of these enhancements are about as effective as the modern creams for the same purpose today; there are implements, Vatsyayana talks of, which are attached to the penis to make it look and feel bigger. Fashioned out of wood, metal or ivory, these are evidence of the first penile enhancement therapy anywhere in the world. It is surprising considering that enhancement products are becoming popular in Indian adult stores all these years later.


Sex has always been an object of man’s fascination. The immense popularity of adult online shopping is only proof of its enduring popularity.

Author's Profile

Melroy Pinto is a marketing consultant, creative writer and blogger who explores trends in the retail and e-commerce space. He specializes in creating content geared towards adult online shopping and top adult stores for sex products in India.


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