Sex toys
Sex Toys
The toy industry for grown-ups is far greater than the toy industry for children! At first glance that sounds like one of those "clever, clever" remarks that need intensive qualification before they mean anything at all-and when resolved actually have no meaning whatever. But in fact it is a serious statement of an irrefutable fact. Leaving aside the current craze for sets of Newtonian Balls, designed to drive you either half-mad with their everlasting clicking, or to lull you into a sense of false security while the world falls apart behind your back, let's look at the dictionary definition of the word "toy".
The Concise Oxford Dictionary states:
- TOY
- Plaything (especially for child); knick-knack; thing meant for amusement rather than for serious use etc. We may ignore the etcetera! Using the secondary definition of "thing meant for amusement rather than for serious use", we at once enter into the field of hobbies, and are confronted with cameras and photo equipment, fishing rods and a thousand bits of fishing gadgetry and, you name it! Not excluding model railroad equipment, which is a substantial industry in itself. If you are over 18 years old, you are no longer a "child", but unless you are very poor, or unusually eccentric, I am sure that at any age from 18 to 80, you have, in value, at least 10 to 20 times the value of toys in your possession that an over indulged child of ten has! Now photography, golf, tennis, fishing and what-not are all very well in their way, but they are only secondary amusements-unless of course you are a professional, when the gadgetry ceases to be toys and becomes tools of your trade. There is one field of human interest in which all mankind are amateurs, and that is sex! Without question, for around 50 years of an average man's life, it is the number one absorbing interest, beyond even food and drink!
And it is about the "gadgetry" of sex that I want to write in this article. Of course, for "straight sex of the "Let's get with it, baby" and "Bang, Bang Finish," variety, we are, most of us fully equipped by nature. However, in a world in which overpopulation is an increasing problem, and, incidentally in which women now have a somewhat louder voice than men, straight forward copulation is neither as easily come by nor as universally practiced as it once was. At the very least, some small degree of "gadgetry" is demanded, in the way of pills and/or contraceptives. Of course, there is a solid block of opinion opposed even to these, but it is noteworthy that opposition to birth-control always seems to emanate from celibate persons who never themselves run the risk of having to get up three times every night to change a diaper! As far as we know!
Once again, I am not concerned with all that. It would be stretching a point to talk of a contraceptive sheath as a "toy". It might be said to be closer to a "tool", without any intentional pun. Rather, I want to discuss what, until about 40 years ago was an esoteric subject, at the dim fringe of sexuality, but which now, day by day and year by year comes more into the limelight. Sex-toys for adults!
Writing as I am for American readers, I have to admit right now that I am uncertain about the historical background of my subject in your country. I am very sure of my position as far as Europe is concerned, and also about the position in America today and for at least 20 years back. In Europe there has been a certain, mostly concealed market for sex toys for several centuries, but until about 100 years ago it was small indeed, and deeply hidden. The growth of the market and the revelation of its products was not fast from about 1870 until 1920, but after the First World War it took off and began to make a definite public impact through the l920's and the 1930's. There was a halt during the Second World War, and then the development of the market began in earnest. Today it is a significant industry, showing a rate of growth that almost any other industry would envy. I have reason to believe that it is growing, not in cash turnover but in volume of product units at least 100% per annum (which means that it is quadrupling every two years). In money terms, allowing for inflation, the increase will be very much higher than that.
This is true for Europe and, in the past 25 years is also true for the United States, but before the Second War, I believe that the market for sex toys in America was insignificant. There was, admittedly a certain half-concealed market, for "Electric Belts", "Shoulder-Braces" and "Surgical Supporters", but one can hardly count these because there is no way of knowing what percentage of sales were to people who actually did suffer from rheumatism, sagging shoulders or achingtesticles!
You will have to pardon me if I tell you frankly, that until at least 1950, America, viewed through European eyes was considered to be extremely naive and, in the very worst sense of the word "innocent". This is probably the fault of Hollywood, with its nauseating combination of Old American schmaltz and cowboys; but the impression was very real, and in many quarters, reinforced by late-night movies, it still lingers. It is, of course, not our fault if your national public relations work was, for so long, left in the wrong hands. I agree, this may all be nonsense, comparable to the parallel absurdity of the Englishman as seen in America, prior to 1950. You know the kind of thing. "Stiff upper lip", "Looking down his nose at the world", "America wins all the wars in the field and loses them in London", "They hired the money, didn't they?", and so-on. It is a pity that we did not understand one another better; there is still a lot to be done before we overcome the barrier of a common language! It was only almost by accident that English became the national language of America instead of French. I am inclined to think it would have been much better for both sides if America HAD adopted French as its languages. Then neither side would have understood the sneers and insults, and we'd have made more effort to try to understand one another!
Still, however it arose, the fact remains that the impression we have is that until about 1950, American attitudes toward what one might call the "shadow pleasures" of life, including liquor and sex were naive in the extreme. And if you resent this, you may reflect that it was America, under tremendous pressure from Non-Conforming Protestants, that tried so disastrously to abolish the liquor trade, and not England!
I guess it would be true to say that the first "sex toys" ever, were instruments of punishment, and at that stage it is quite impossible to say how much of the trade was "legitimate" and how much entirely sexual in it significance. In days when every man and most women had to know how to ride or drive a horse, the possession of at least one whip was more or less mandatory. If men with some frequency, and women less frequently, found a certain sexual pleasure from administering the whip-or receiving it in person-it is still not legitimate to describe the possession of a whip, until 1930 at least, as ownership of a sex-toy.
Today, with certain very small exceptions, there can be no doubt about it! You cannot possibly believe that the performance of your Ford or Volkswagen will be improved by a good thrashing! Therefore, unless you are a jockey or show-jumper the chances are that ownership of a whip betrays you as a person who either likes to use some kind of sex-toy, or HOPES TO BE ABLE TO DO SO! (I do not now include cow-boys in the category of legitimate whip-owners. Bing Crosby gave the game away years ago when he sang about how he "Rode the range in a Ford V-8!") It is impossible for any normal person to witness corporal punishment without feeling strong emotion, even if only of the "There, but for the Grace of God go I" variety. There can be pity, revulsion, disgust and even hatred of the authority that passed sentence and the creature of authority who administers the punishment. However, try as one may to overlook it, it is also undeniable that the strongest emotion aroused by witnessing corporal punishment is sexual excitement. What is more, providing the punishment is not brutal, a similar sexual excitement is aroused in the victim and in the executioner. I shall not enter here into the reasons why this should be so. They are fairly clear-cut, and
I have dealt with them comprehensively elsewhere in other articles and in my many books, to which I refer you. At this stage I shall content myself with saying that it is so. Now, until about the middle of this century in England, and probably in America too, the only places where corporal punishment was often used, but was kept below the level of brutality were in the home and in the schools. Corporal punishment in penal institutions and in military circles was still disgustingly cruel, although that is now almost entirely abolished with advantage to everyone. While accepting that sexual excitement was to be derived by onlookers and executioners in displays of brutal whippings, we shall ignore that aspect, because there is no way in which one can consider a cat-o-nine-tails for instance, or the Russian Knoutas "sex-toys". To use such a dreadful implement as a sex-toy would be about equivalent to giving a child a real submachine gun, fully loaded, to play with at kindergarten! It must always be remembered that, for instance, in Naval floggings, in the British Navy until late in the 19th century, approximately one third of all men flogged died inside a week, while one third were permanently crippled. There is not a lot of fun in that!
It was in the home, and at school that the idea of sex-fun first crept in, and whence was derived the idea of sex-toys that led to the present-day industry. A direct result of caning and birching at school has always been masturbation. Not only the victim, but also the observers habitually masturbate after this kind of punishment.
One can only conjecture about the behavior of the schoolteachers who administered such punishment! No doubt most of them would have claimed that they were unmoved by it, although it is difficult to understand why. Schoolteachers do not give any sign of being made of better, more moral, or emotion-stronger metal than the rest of society, anything the contrary!
And in the home, how many boys had their first erection, and their first ejaculation while being spanked across the knees of a parent or nursemaid can only be conjectured. Certainly, during the days when it was firmly believed that "to spare the rod was to spoil the child," this was common. One wonders, too, how many stern husbands, be-whiskered and silk-hatted, found considerable pleasure in reconciliation and forgiveness after they had warmed their wives' bottoms or backs with a whip or strap.
One gets glimpses of this, as in aircraft flying at 20,000 feet one gets glimpses of towns and fields through gaps in the clouds, in the literature of the day; in the novels, in the magazines. But even so, it would be stretching a point to describe a whip or riding crop as a "sex toy", even when it was used as such, when its owner had a horse tied up at the hitching post outside. Since the Second War, however, the matter is not in doubt. If a man owns a whip, cane, tawse, crop or quirt, it is a sex-toy! And remember that toys fall generally into two categories. There are the toys one can do something with, and there are the toys one can only look at and fantasize about! I have known, as you probably have, children who own a great heap of toys, but will leave them all to play with two bits of wood and a brass bolt. What the child puts into his toy is far more important to him that what the toy puts into him! So with a whip. No doubt some whips are used as sex-toys. A very large number are so used, I am sure. But a far greater umber are hoarded, kept in secret and fantasized. If one is a masochist, one may keep a whip or other implement, hidden carefully away. When he opportunity arises, one takes it out, handles it lovingly, and imagines how it would feel to have it laid across one's buttocks by a dominant man or Oman, according to one's taste. The result, in the form of sexual excitement is exactly what it would be if the whip were actually used! In truth, it is probably far more sexually exciting than a good whipping would be. It is a fact that fantasies are almost without exception far more pleasant than any real experience. The masochist might well find that a real whipping would be very painful and unpleasant-but his dream will give him the masochistic sexual pleasure he craves.
The same thing applies in reverse to the sadist, with the possible exception that he may find the experience even more pleasant than the fantasy, because it is not his buttocks that are being burned! Both of them will, in any event, be driven to fantasy simply because it is still extremely difficult for most people to arrange to turn such fantasies into reality. It is easy for a man to fantasy that he is whipping his wife while they are having intercourse, and this may well help him to reach a level of pleasure beyond what he would otherwise experience. Or his fantasy may take the form of being whipped by his wife, or another woman. He may even fantasize one way today and another tomorrow, depending on his state of mind at the time,because sexual sadism and sexual masochism are merely two sides of one coin. But outside fantasy, the chances are that if he were to try to whip his wife, or to invite her to whip him, she would react in one of several ways. She might take off to Reno or Mexico the next morning, seeking a quick divorce. Or she might hold the suggestion over his head for the rest of his life as proof of his moral degeneracy. Or she might become terrified of him because of this apparent aberration. She might run home to Mother. Or she might give him a black eye. There are other alternatives, all equally unpleasant! Because there is perhaps one sexual sadist or masochist among women for every thousand or so among men. So that the chances of finding one in one's own bed are rather remote!
What was that dictionary definition I gave you? Thing meant for amusement, rather than for serious use." A whip, cane or other implement of punishment that is owned-or even longed for-but not used is, by that definition clearly a "toy". A sex-toy for an adult.
However, I am not basing my ideas about "toys for adults" on the mere possession of an implement for corporal punishment! I will allow you your rationalization about it. It belonged to your grandfather, or you keep it in case you ever need to horsewhip a young man for seducing your daughter, or you may one day buy a horse and keep it in your apartment in New York or Chicago. I won't argue with that. I don't have to!
I will, however, just add this. Among many other preoccupations, I am one of Europe's leading designers, makers and exporters (principally to America) of toys for adults, and among my designs are nine different kinds of devices for mild corporal punishment, none of which would in any way inconvenience a horse!. In total, during 1973 I exported just over 1000 assorted implements, most of which must by now have been sold because repeat orders continue to arrive. They range from small breast and penis whips, which do little more than tickle and titillate, to leather Disciplines, designed to be used on one's own person without any outside help. To say that I believe these implements are bought as sex-toys would be the understatement of the year. THEY HAVE NO OTHER PURPOSE!
Still, I'll let that go. One swallow does not make a summer, I agree.
Soon after the end of the American Civil War, something occurred of lasting international importance, something that had far more effect upon all our lives than, for instance the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine or the establishment of the United Nations! Two men, working separately and in different countries, discovered how to cure and vulcanize rubber, by the use of heat and sulfur. If that had never been done, the automobile would not have been possible.
From our immediate point of view, the extraordinary thing is that within ten years of the production of the first rubber-coated cloth, there arose a demand for very special types of rubber clothing. The use of rubber-cloth for rainwear was obvious enough. In fact, this was the first use to which it was put and, throughout the life of the product the main use. One cannot appreciate, at this distance in time, what a blessing to mankind the invention of the macintosh must have been. The reduction in common colds, pleurisy, pneumonia and rheumatic complaints alone make it a development not less important to human happiness than penicillin!
Nevertheless, within a decade of the rubber cloth becoming available, there were people in Europe, and also in America, having all kinds of unusual garments made from rubber-cloth, even though such material was quite unsuitable for the ostensible purpose. (It is always necessary to permit people to rationalize their cravings! When, some decades ago, it became standard procedure to issue free rubber contraceptives to British navy sailors going on leave in foreign ports, they refused almost to a man to accept them. The inference that they were going ashore to get drunk and pick up a prostitute was quite unacceptable to their self-esteem. However, when a notice was placed by the bin, pointing out that the use of a condom was an excellent way of preventing disease and preserving health, the objection ceased at once. It is one thing to be considered as a sensible man who will try at all times to keep himself fit, and quite another to be thought of as a mere animal whose long-repressed cravings have to be satisfied!)
Sex Toys 02 Part 2 of this article
(VAMP)
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