Sex aids and aphrodisiacs
A variety of sex aids or
toys are sold over-the-counter in sex shops
or by mail order through magazines. These
include Chinese balls (a woman can wear them
in her vagina where they vibrate slightly as she
moves about during the day) and condoms with
various protrusions on them, which are designed
to stimulate the clitoris during intercourse. Other
condoms are brightly colored and flavored with
fruit.
The vibrator is by far the most
popular sex toy. Shaped like a penis and
battery-ope rated, it can be used in love play or
for female masturbation. Some vibrators have an
ejaculation mechanism. Many sex therapists
advise the use of a vibrator for women learning to
give themselves orgasms.
To help maintain
erection, the simple ring designed to fit
at the base of the penis is probably the only
useful device. A piece of ribbon will do equally
well. Tied fairly tightly around the penis, it acts as
a one-way valve. Blood enters the penis but is
prevented from leaving it, and thus the erection is
maintained for a little longer. A variety of creams
and sprays that claim to prolong erections or to
trigger orgasms are also available.
Named after Aphrodite,
the Greek goddess of love, aphrodisiacs are
drugs claimed to excite lust. They may also be
taken to stave off exhaustion or heighten
pleasure during sex. The popularity of these
drugs throughout history is a testimony to the
fickleness of human sexual chemistry.
In some civilizations, highly
nutritious foods were regarded as the most
reliable stimulants, and may indeed have had a
beneficial effect on people whose diet was
usually poor. The Greeks went for eggs, honey,
snails, and shellfish such as mussels and crabs.
One Arab recipe from The Perfumed Garden
recommends a glass of very thick honey, twenty
almonds and a hundred pine nuts to be taken for
three nights on retiring. Other recipes were to be
applied externally. In order to increase the
dimensions of small members and make them
splendid', the author of The Perfumed Garden
advised rubbing the penis with the melted down
fat from the hump of a camel, bruised leeches,
asses' members, and even hot pitch. These 'rubs'
were probably less effective than the treatment of
rubbing itself.
The Chinese were more scientific in
their approach. They measured and blended the
powdered roots of plants, then gave them colorful
names like 'the bald chicken drug'. This drug got
its name when a septuagenarian civil servant
who took it regularly, fathered three sons and
paid so much attention to his wife that she could
no longer either sit or lie down. He was forced to
throw the remains of the drug out into the yard,
where it was gobbled up by the cockerel. The
cock jumped on a hen straight away, and
continued mating with it for several days without
interruption, all the while pecking at its head to
keep its balance, until the chicken was
completely bald, whereupon the cockerel fell off.
The proud inventor of the drug claimed that if it
were taken three times a day for sixty days, a
man would be able to satisfy 40 women.
Horns have long been thought to, have
aphrodisiac properties because of their obvious
phallic shape. Continuing belief in the potency of
rhinoceros horn has brought the single-horned
African rhinoceros to the brink of extinction. In
fact horn consists of fibrous tissue, similar in
construction to hair and nails. Like them, rhino
horn contains the protein keratin, and the
minerals sulfur, calcium and phosphorus. The
addition of these elements to a poor diet might
improve vigor, but a cheese sandwich would do
just as well.
Another famous
aphrodisiac is Spanish fly, the
common name of the beetle cantharides. The
beetle is dried and the active principal,
cantharidin, is extracted. If swallowed,
cantharidin causes an intense burning sensation
in the throat, followed by diarrhea. Then the
urinogenital tract becomes so inflamed that
urination becomes impossible. The penis ends up
engorged and throbbing, but this is due to
excruciating pain rather than to sexual urgency.
Taking Spanish fly can sometimes be fatal.