A Schlong Time Ago: History of the Cock Ring

Like all sex toys that have a shockingly ancient origin, the cock ring is simple and effective, as such it was developed independently in different cultures. I'll be looking at the Ancient Greeks and Chinese as well as more modern Western examples.

It's a pretty straight forward principle, the ring is placed at the base of the penis (or testes as well if that floats your boat) and the pressure prevents the blood from flowing back out of the appendage, keeping you harder for longer. This longevity prolongs sex, increasing the intensity of your eventual climax. 

As per usual with erotic history, most modern academics don’t seem to want to address the prevalence of sex toys even when its staring them directly in the face. For example; this Attic funerary statue from the late Archaic Era (510-500 B.C.E) depicts an Athenean youth namedAristodikos* which can be found at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The figure is completely naked except for what certainly looks to be a cock ring, which is apparently just not worth mentioning in any of the academic literature about this statue. Since no-one seems to be willing to talk about it, it's hard(teehee) to say what material it was made of, so we can only really speculate. 

We do know what the ancient Chinese were making their rings out of! In 12th Century China, the wealthy aristocrats decided that the best material to be using was the dried eyelid of a goat. (Yes you read that correctly) I suppose they didn’t have things like silicone, and the eyelid was reasonably flexible unlike jade or ivory.**  The other pro for the goat eyelid is you could trim the eyelashes as desired for added stimulation which is… nice? Fun fact: you can actually still get rings made of goat eyelids relatively easily online. (Un)fortunately at Funtasia we have a range of different materials including silicone and metal but are severely lacking in the eyelid department. But hey if you’re ever looking for an all-natural option more power to you. 

As per usual when it comes to history the British had to come and severely bring down the vibe. Puritanical ideas in the Late Victorian Era led many to the idea that masturbation and sexual desire was sinful and medically harmful. *** The result was a wave of anti-masturbatory devices and practices including these particularly uncomfortable rings called Jugum penises. While these rings didn’t technically have the same goal as the others in this blog, I wanted to include them because I feel like for at least a few people these probably unlocked some BDSM-esq tendencies. ****

My personal favourite reappearance of the cock ring in pop culture has a certainKenergy to it which never fails to delight me. In the Early 1990’s, Mattel wanted to market Ken dolls more successfully. So they took inspiration from the most fashionable guys around, which was of course members of the queer community. Now at the time it was very fashionable for queer men to wear cock-rings as pendants as a symbol of pride. Bless the innocent designers at Mattel who would go on to un-knowing copy the accessory not fully realising what it was. The resulting toy was “Earring Magic Ken” or as he will forever be known in my heart “Cock-Ring Ken”. When discerning shoppers pointed out what his necklace was, Cock-Ring Ken was quickly discontinued and Mattel would do everything in their power to forget this ever happened. Earring Magic Ken would go on to feature briefly in Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie albeit with a different necklace (cowards).

So there's some fun facts for you to bring up next time the conversation at a dinner party gets boring. Interested in your own cock-ring? Check out the range at Funtasia here. 

*the jokes write themselves here- I couldn’t think of a more appropriate name 

** jade and ivory rings were also options starting around 1600, but these weren’t super accessible materials, unlike eyelids which you could get at two for the price of one as long as you had an unfortunate goat laying around

*** If you’re reading an article on this site I can only hope that you don’t agree with this sentiment, but just to clarify; sexual pleasure is not sinful or harmful to your health. 

****Source; just trust me bro

Funtasia Sexpert and Goat Ally 

Verin Sampson 

Sources:

Rampton, M., By and Rampton, M. (2022)The archaeology of the cock ring.,maude. Available at:https://getmaude.com/blogs/themaudern/the-archaeology-of-the-cock-ring#:~:text=As%20far%20as%20cock%20ring,into%20the%20same%20spelling%2C%20Jin