In case you’re unfamiliar with butt plugs, allow us to introduce you to a flexible toy you may enjoy no matter gender, orientation, or genitalia. Butt plugs for beginners (or anyone, for that matter) offer a mess of sensations. If you might have a prostate, butt plugs can stimulate it; if you might have a vagina, a butt plug can create incredibly pleasurable pressure on the back vaginal wall. Not to say, nerve endings also surround the anus.

Butt plugs are wonderful toys that may provide help to safely explore recent sexual territory. In case you’ve never tried them, or in the event you’re already into anal sex, they will provide help to switch up your routine while warming up your body for brand spanking new things. Whatever the rationale you are keen to dive into the world of butt plug play, there are a couple of things it is best to know for a snug, secure, and sexy experience.

What are butt plugs?

Some sex toys, akin to the Wartenberg Pinwheelhave fairly cryptic names. Butt plugs, nevertheless, do exactly what you’d imagine: They plug up your butt. A butt plug’s primary duty is to make you’re feeling good: “The anus generally is a remarkable source of delight, so butt plugs, with a variety of lube, are an awesome technique to loosen up the anus and get something inside it,” says David OrtmanLCSW, a psychotherapist and sex therapist based in San Francisco.

People often use butt plugs for penetrative anal sex prep. Remember, unlike the vagina, the rectum doesn’t self-lubricate. Because of this it is important to warm up your butthole with loads of lube and smaller objects, akin to fingers and butt plugs, before penetrative sex with a strap-on or penis, says sex educator Timaree Schmittwho also co-hosts a podcast called DTF.

Butt plugs are cleverly shaped for his or her function. They often have narrow suggestions that get progressively wider toward the center after which narrow again to a slim neck at the bottom so your rectum can contain them comfortably. Because the rectum can act like a vacuum and suck objects inside, a flared bottom, pull cord, or ring prevents a butt plug from getting lost inside you, Ortmann says. (No one desires to be the person whose story goes viral for ending up within the ER with a butt plug stuck of their bum.)

What should I do know before buying a butt plug?

As well as to picking a plug with a flared base, it is important to envision that your toy is body-safe. Since sex toys are sold as “novelty items,” they’re kind of unregulated by any federal agency, meaning it’s as much as you to be certain that that materials are secure to place in, on, and around your genitals. We have witnessed, upon opening our drawers, that a rubber vibrator had leaked pink dye in all places. If unsafe toys can stain my underwear, what else can they harm? “Cheaper toys could be manufactured from chemicals that may leach into your body,” Schmit states.