Home / blog / Just for fun: miracle cures in the 1800s

Just for fun: miracle cures in the 1800s

Of butt plugs and miracle cures

I wrote about pegging in the past – More about pegging. Would you be surprised to know that’s not a recent trend?

Of course we always been kinky. In the late 1800s, some very primitive jelly-like butt plugs were sold under the name ‘Dr Young’s Ideal Rectal Dilators’. What for you might ask?

Well, hear this: they were sold as miracle cure not only for constipation, but also for bad breath, acne, insomnia, headache, indigestion, and nervousness. Yes of course, I guess that would improve anyone’s mood.

In short, the butt plugs were a success. In 1893 our lovely Dr Young wrote in a medical journal that the devices could be used as a cure for insanity. It went as far as claiming that it could cure 75% of people considered insane “in a few weeks’ time”. Obviously that must have been a ‘must-have’ in the late 1800s.

At some point of course, the government thought it might be a good idea to regulate advertising and ‘medical devices’ in the market. In the 1938, the Federal Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act clamped down on the sale of such fun devices. In fact, they banned them completely just a couple of years later. It was fun while it lasted!

Miracle cure

butt-plugs history
butt-plugs history