Skip to main content

From Ice Age dildos to VR, an academic explains the history and future of sex toys

The first sex toys date from the Ice Age, yet selling them is still illegal in Alabama today. Throughout history, sex toys have been more than just objects, writes Hallie Lieberman, who has a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sex toy history and is the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy (Pegasus Books). They’re a reflection of our approval, or fear, toward sexuality, and our attempts to control it.