I wanted to hip you all to the passing of a great man, a champion of human sexuality, Dave Lampert, creator of the Sybian sex machine. One of Howard Stern’s ”go-to” devices, unparalleled in the world of self-sexual pleasure, creating his oh-so-unique machine in 1987, adding to the line with his Venus for Men eleven years later, Dave leaves a family-run business. He died this week at the age of 90.

Countless women owe their multiple orgasms from taking a ride on what Dave Lampert gave the world.

When one begins to consider the many sexual aids, toys, and sex-health products currently being produced (and trying to discern which one might work for you or you and a partner), the Sybian certainly rises (no pun intended) above the rest. Indeed, it is priced above lots of what is out there. It is a machine, after all, not a Pyrex dildo or a ripe, ready, and steady anal plug, but for what this machine is and for what it does, you are certainly paying for what you get.

Mr. Lampert gives a detailed accounting of how he came to invent the Sybian, which you can read on the company’s website. The idea bubbling in his mind in the early ’70s, he presented his vision at the beginning of the next decade to a lady physician, who indeed prompted him to explore it more. Managing a boots-on-the-ground deep dive by visiting adult bookstores, retail establishments and talking to anyone with “knowledge of sexual devices,” Lampert was attempting to find if indeed anyone else had come up with/marketed a similar device. Finding none, he took the next year and a half reading books on sexual research and the latest in the field.

In early 1985 he found a machine shop to produce a crude prototype…he didn’t tell the shop what they were making.

Dave reports that it took three years from creating that first model to marketing the product as we know it today. On the company website, he says “that thousands of alterations and refinements took place, some extremely minor and some very radical.”

But women around the world we certainly thrilled with all his hard work.

In another place on the website, I found a thrilling assessment on what Dave calls “the greatest hoax played upon the world,” what he calls the “importance of fake stroking during intercourse.” Undoubtedly, the actual insertion, pumping, in-and-outness of hetero intercourse is what so much of our porn material focuses on (beyond the money shot). I’d even further this by saying a penis entering any orifice, and the movement of it plowing forth is lots of what we get in the visual depiction of sex as seen in pornography. But Dave reasoned (and hate to admit it this, though I have to) that stroking is very much for the male’s benefit. Yes, women do like the feeling, there is no denying this, and some even can orgasm from intercourse alone. But we all know, lots of women do not orgasm from having a penis pushed into them.

As each snowflake is different from its fellows, we all know that the location of the clitoris to the vaginal opening in each lady is individualistic. Therefore, some lucky ladies can come from the old ”in and out” if both their labia and clitoris are close enough to enjoy stimulation from the penis as it strokes. Others won’t be. These ladies need to ”rock” in a different way while having something inserted, or at least stimulate their clitoris in a way a penis doesn’t usually when entering them.

Dave created a machine where a woman could comfortably ”hump” as she would be sitting astride a man, rubbing her clitoris on his pubic bones as he fucked her. The Sybian provided the platform for a lady to squat on, the dildo to enter her, and the speed control to deliver just what she wants how and when she wants it. And a machine that coaxes multiple orgasms from the rider.

Furthering from this, Lampert produced the Venus for Men. This ”hands-free stroker” provides 8 to 300(!) strokes per minute. It is also the only machine of its kind that allows men to reach orgasm without an erection. The personalized fit allows for maximum pleasure with each use.

We can all snicker about these sex aids. Turn the lights low late at night and manage our quick one-handed mouse searches over adult shops across the globe. The fact of the matter is, humans have been using sex aids throughout our history, and people like Dave Lampert made our lives better in his matter-of-fact, well-meaning pursuit of better sex for us all.

If you are of a mind, the company and family of this great man are receiving condolences at abco@sybian.com.