The Ancient History of Modern Sex Toys

"Auto-erotic pleasure tools,” “marital aids,” “b.o.b.s (battery-operated-boyfriends)"–call ‘em what you will, the human animal has had a long and illustrious fascination with devices that add excitement to his or her sex life.  And for all the moral, ethical, spiritual, and religious issues surrounding the use of sex toys, it seems apparent that the pursuit of sex-enhancing devices is not just an enculturated behavior reflecting our fascination with intercourse, but a culturally-adaptive, evolutionary expression of a hard-wired need to make every sexual encounter count.  And this point is no better illustrated than at the site of a 2,000-year-old brothel unearthed in Athens, Greece where a fully-stocked “sex toy” shop (stone vaginal and anal probes, penis paraphernalia, and a variety of lubricants) was discovered.  Read more . . .