In the story I’m madly working on at the moment, Siren, Elisabeth Tanner is a passionate, virginal bride-to-be, set in the British Virgin Islands in the early 19th century. Having grown up in a marginally less rigid society, with a companion/maid who would these days be considered a couples sex therapist (her reason for being employed in Elizabeth’s parents house provides an interesting secondary story) Beth is determined to enjoy the marriage bed.

The day of her engagement to scientist explorer William Swan – the day before he is to leave on a 6 week voyage – Beth gives her betrothed a notebook and asks him to write her a journal of pleasure while he’s away, to enlighten her in the joys of sex.

He goes one better and also has the sail-maker craft a sex-toy to practice with, and to give herself pleasure. Something like this, and 18th century dildo found in Poland, eight inches long and made of high quality leather with a carved wooden tip.

As usual, I did some digging on-line (hence the photo, above) and found some fascinating information on the history of sex aids.

In ancient Greece, dildos made of bread were used by men and women as a sexual aid,  according to Vicki Leon, author of The Joy of Sexus: Lust, Love & Longing in the Ancient World — a biodegradable sexual aid, which made them responsible sexy people. 

A siltstone phallus found in Germany is said to date back 28,000 years.

2000 years ago in ancient China, a bronze dildo.

Phalluses made from stone, wood, leather and even camel dung have all been found during excavations, or referenced in historical text and images.

“… we have evidence of a dildo-like object that’s 28,000–30,000 years old. We think of these things as new, but you see dildos on Greek vases and in Japanese art.“

“In a way, we were more liberated in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when sex toys were advertised everywhere, like in the New York Times.“

https://www.thecut.com/2017/11/the-30-000-year-history-of-the-sex-toy.html

and even earlier… “30,000 years… phallic batons from the Upper Paleolithic period. The early sex toys were made of bone and ivory and teeth. They were classified by archaeologists as flint-shaping tools and found in Germany and other parts of Eurasia during the Ice Age.” Hallie Lieberman

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If you’re looking for something sexy to read before then, I’ve reduced my novella Little Blonde Lies (an enemies to lovers revenge romance dripping with hot sex)
to 99 cents until the end of 2020.