Open about sex | Silicone saved the industry: From toxic rubber smell to can be boiled in a pot,the 50-year evolution of safe materials for sex toys.

Hello, I'm your sex toy.

That odorless, smooth, scald-proof "little toy" in your drawer-have you ever seriously considered why it's so safe?

The answer isn't in the regulatory documents. In a dark basement in Brooklyn in 1972.

A paralyzed Black immigrant was bending over, stirring several large buckets of thick, translucent liquid. It looked like he was conducting some dangerous chemical experiment. In reality-he was doing something unprecedented: the world's first silicone sex toy that could be safely inserted into the body.

And before that, all the similar products you could buy were, frankly, not as clean as your kitchen dish sponge. Today's article, from a materials science perspective, will give you a complete overview of this fifty-year history of safety evolution. [1]

I. What's the deal with that "rubber smell"?

We often get asked by readers: "I bought a cheap vibrator, and when I opened it, there was a pungent plastic smell. I washed it three times, and it's still there. Is it safe to use?"

The answer is: Don't use it. That smell is the material screaming "I'm toxic!"

Did you know that sex toys are legally classified as "novelty items," not "instruments that come into contact with human mucous membranes"? In other words, they are subject to less stringent material safety regulations than the rubber duck your child has.

Going back a few decades. Sex toys were basically made of three things: natural rubber, PVC-polyvinyl chloride-and "jelly glue." Their common characteristic was that they were porous. Under a microscope, their surfaces were riddled with craters, like the moon. These tiny, invisible pores absorbed bodily fluids and harbored bacteria. You thought you were clean, but bacteria had already made their home inside. [2]

Worse still, there were plasticizers. To soften the hard PVC, manufacturers added phthalates. In some cheap sex toys, this substance could be as high as 70%-meaning that your "jelly-like" toy was 70% chemical plasticizers. [3] Phthalate esters are known endocrine disruptors, associated with reproductive toxicity and developmental impairment. The EU banned three types for use in children's toys in 2004. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also imposes strict restrictions on children's products. [4] But sex toys are not children's toys. They are subject to far less regulation than rubber ducks. "That 'rubber smell' isn't the smell of natural rubber; it's a mixture of volatile compounds from plasticizers, stabilizers, and residual solvents. Your nose is issuing a warning in the most primitive way." And there's more. In the 1940s, some rubber sex toys had steel springs embedded inside to maintain rigidity. When the rubber aged and cracked, the springs were exposed-this wasn't a sex toy, it was a hidden weapon. [5] In other words, before silicone, the "safety standards" for sex toys were practically nonexistent. Porous materials harbored bacteria, plasticizers could cause cancer, and springs could injure-this was "normal" in that era. II. How did a repairman with a broken spine become the "father of materials" in the industry?

The previous part of history sounds suffocating. Now let's change the subject-tell a story about someone who truly changed everything.

January 1965, Chicago. Gosnell Duncan-let's call him Duncan-was working the night shift at the International Harvester plant. A temporary welder.

The day shift workers forgot to put in the retaining pin. A truck lathe fell off its shelf and crushed him. His spine was crushed. He was permanently paralyzed from the waist down and lost his erectile function. He was 37 years old, with a wife and four children. [1]

Duncan didn't break down. He joined the disability rights movement.

1971, a disability conference in Indianapolis. There was an open discussion on "Sex and Disability." The moderator asked the audience, "If there were suitable products, would you buy sex toys to satisfy your sexual needs?"

Everyone's hands went up. [1]

A truth that has been selectively ignored: disabled people also have sexual needs and sexual rights. Duncan discovered that there wasn't a single product on the market that a paralyzed person could safely use.

Duncan bought and studied every sex toy on the market. The conclusion: none of them were up to standard.

Natural rubber-melts when heated and cannot be sterilized. PVC-porous, pungent, and cannot be truly cleaned. Gel-contains large amounts of plasticizers, with unknown risks from long-term contact. And all of them came in only one color, "flesh-pink-white." The default user was white.

None of them were safe for someone who needed long-term contact, had more sensitive skin, and required strict hygiene.

However, Duncan had engineering knowledge. He had worked with silicone rubber while repairing cars-heat-resistant, stable, and non-reactive. He contacted a chemist at General Electric (GE). The two spent nearly a year repeatedly adjusting the formula. In 1972, the world's first skin-safe silicone sex toy was born. [1]

Duncan founded Scorpio Products in a Brooklyn basement. His products redefined what "safety" means:

The first medical-grade silicone toy achieved four major breakthroughs:

First, it is non-porous-bacteria cannot enter and it will not become a bacterial culture medium.

Second, it is odorless-there is no smell when you get close, and there are zero chemical volatiles.

Third, it can be sterilized at high temperatures-it can be thrown into the top rack of a dishwasher or boiled directly for thorough sterilization.

Fourth, it can retain body temperature-it slowly warms up after contact with the skin, unlike PVC which is always cold. [6]

He also did something that no one in the industry dared to think of at the time: he produced products based on four real skin tones. For the first time in the history of sex toys, a person with dark skin did not need to buy a "pink-flesh-colored" dildo. He also designed a mouth-holding style for quadriplegic patients and a special strap for users wearing catheters. [1]

"One person, a basement, a few barrels of silicone-pushed the safety baseline of this industry forward by an entire era."

The starting point of this material revolution was not a business plan or a VC roadshow. This is about a man whose spine was broken, who, with no other choice, solved the fundamental problem of "no safe products available" himself.

On a side note-we specifically researched Duncan's background while writing this section. In his last interview before his death in 2017, he said, "I just wanted something that wouldn't hurt me." It's that simple.

III. Silicone is More Than Just "Silicone"-Platinum Curing vs. Regular Silicone: Why is "Medical Grade" So Valuable?

The story is over. Now let's get more practical-how to tell if the silicone you have is truly safe.

This part is a bit dry. But please read on patiently-it directly relates to your safety every time you use it.

You might ask: Is there only one type of silicone? Why do some "silicone toys" cost tens of dollars, while others cost hundreds or thousands?

Let's put it this way: silicone is a large family. What determines its safety is how it's "cured"-the scientific term "curing method." There are two main types on the market: peroxide curing and platinum curing.

Peroxide curing uses organic peroxides as catalysts. The reaction produces byproducts-acetophenone, cumyl alcohol, and organic acids. These substances slowly seep out of the material, especially when in contact with body temperature and the moist environment of mucous membranes. [7]

Platinum curing, on the other hand, uses platinum complexes as catalysts. The byproducts of this reaction are zero. The chemical formula is perfectly balanced, resulting in a pure polydimethylsiloxane network. It is completely clean, with no small molecules escaping. [7]

Peroxide-cured silica gel vs. platinum-cured silica gel-understand it all at once:

First, byproducts: peroxides leave chemical residues; platinum leaves zero.

Second, odor: peroxides may have a sour smell; platinum is completely odorless.

Third, long-term stability: peroxides will yellow and become sticky; platinum will not change color for three years. Fourth, biocompatibility: Peroxide generally fails USP Class VI / ISO 10993; platinum does.

Fifth, boiling in water: Peroxide is not recommended; platinum can be boiled freely.

Sixth, price: Peroxide is cheaper; platinum is two to three times more expensive.

In layman's terms: Peroxide-cured silicone – after use, there are still "seasoning residues" inside that haven't been washed off. Platinum-cured silicone – after use, there's just a basin of clean water.

In other words, medical-grade silicone that truly passes the USP Class VI and ISO 10993 biocompatibility tests is almost always a platinum-cured system. These tests examine whether the material will kill cells, cause allergies, or irritate the skin. [8]

Here's another way to tell by sight. Cheap "silicone" will turn yellow, become sticky, and have a sour smell after a period of use – that's because peroxide byproducts are escaping. Real platinum-cured silicone will remain the same color after three years and have no smell at all. To put it simply, the only downside to platinum-cured silicone is its price. But when it comes to "inserting it into the body," saving that money isn't really worthwhile.

I suggest you save this section for later. Next time you buy a toy, ask customer service three questions:

First, does it have an odor? Genuine platinum-cured silicone is completely odorless.

Second, can it be boiled? Genuine medical-grade silicone is heat-resistant and sterilizable.

Third, is there a biocompatibility test report? Look for USP Class VI or ISO 10993 certification.

If all three answers are "yes," you can be basically assured. If they can't answer one-go to another store.

IV. From Basement Workshops to ISO International Standards-How a Materials Revolution Reshaped the Entire Industry
Duncan created the first safe silicone product. But it took nearly thirty years for silicone to become mainstream.

In the global sex toy market of the 1990s, gel and PVC were still the absolute kings. The reason is simple: cheap. A gel vibrator cost less than two dollars to manufacture, while silicone was several times more expensive. When consumers were unaware of the concept of "material safety," price determined everything. [9] The turning point came at the turn of the century. Several key moments: First, in 1998, Metis Black founded Tantus, the first brand to mass-produce "medical-grade silicone" as its core selling point. Second, in 2005, Smitten Kitten in Minnesota became the world's first retail store to publicly declare that it "does not sell toys made of toxic materials." The founder also formed an "anti-toxic toy alliance" with its peers. [6] Third, in the 2010s, "body-safe" went from niche community slang to mainstream consumer standards. A large amount of educational content on material safety emerged on social media. Fourth, in 2021, ISO launched the world's first standard specifically for sex toys, ISO 3533. It included anti-jamming design, temperature limits, and biocompatible material requirements. [10]

Smitten Kitten's logic is simple: if you wouldn't dare hold a piece of material in your mouth for half an hour, you shouldn't put it in any other mucous membrane. This isn't a moral declaration-it's basic hygiene common sense.

Let's be clear: we're not saying all products labeled "silicone" are safe. "Fake silicone" products mixed with large amounts of fillers still exist. Sex toys are still not a mandatory regulated category in most countries worldwide. The FDA only regulates those explicitly labeled "therapeutic use," and the CPSC doesn't have specific safety standards. ISO 3533 is also voluntary-not mandatory.

But the direction is clear.

Consumers are voting with their wallets-more and more people are asking, "What material is it? Can it be boiled?" Brands are responding with materials-platinum vulcanized silicone has gone from "high-end niche" to "standard quality."

This safety baseline, which started with Duncan's basement mixing bucket, is being raised layer by layer by more and more people.

Let's look back at that scene from 1972. A paralyzed Black man, in a basement no one wanted to enter, did what no one else wanted to do. Not for money-if there was nothing on the market that worked for him, he made it himself.

Fifty years later, in the multi-billion dollar global sex toy industry, "medical-grade platinum-cured silicone" became synonymous with quality. Smitten Kitten advertised "No toxic toys." ISO issued its first standard. One man's basement experiment changed the underlying code of an entire industry.

If you have a tasteless, smooth silicone toy that's been with you for a long time-examine it carefully for three seconds tonight.

It's quiet and says nothing.

But behind this thing is the stubbornness of a man with a broken spine who refuses to say "forget it."

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