It’s been just over a decade since Sam, a pseudonym of Twitter user Locked Fist Monster, started locking his dick inside chastity cages. “What makes it hot is that you’re basically having your dick taken away from you,” he explains of the kink, which involves locking up your junk and occasionally handing over the key to a kinky dom. At the time of writing, it’s peak cock cage season — October (for literally no reason other than wordplay) marks the joyous occasion of #Locktober, which is essentially Christmas, Black Friday and Thanksgiving wrapped into one for chastity enthusiasts worldwide.
Since 2010, Sam estimates he’s bought or been gifted at least 20 cages, and to say he’s prepared to show them off would be an understatement. When we log onto Zoom for our call, he’s at his desk, an array of nine different cages laid out in front of him as he holds them up to the camera and dissects each in meticulous detail. (He’s also done so on Reddit, rating his favorites over the last few years.)
The designs of the cages span a range of sizes, materials and lock mechanisms. Yet despite the growing number of options on the market, Sam still hasn’t found the perfect cage — either they pinch painfully, fit weird or slip off too easily. Thanks to the rise of 3D printing technology, however, all of that could soon be changing.
Already, websites like Thingiverse have small selections of files to download and 3D print, and kink forums like ChastityMansion are populated by horny subs ironing out the creases in current tech to design, pimp out and customize their own dick cages. “I’ve looked into 3D printing myself, because I’ve sketched out designs for cages that I wanted at one point or another but wasn’t able to find,” explains Sam. “But the cost, in terms of time, getting the resources together and ensuring you’d get the quality you’d actually want, is currently prohibitive for 99 percent of people.”
The price of a custom, 3D-printed cage depends on the material, model complexity and various other factors — and cages aren’t always cost-predicted in existing forums — but a particularly complicated design can run for thousands of dollars.
With chastity fans willing to shell out that much just to get the right fit, it’s worth asking: What actually makes a good chastity cage? According to Sam, there are five key criteria: “Effectiveness (how good it is at preventing me from jerking off); security (how easy it is to escape); comfort (how comfortable it is to wear); hygiene (how easy it is to clean); and aesthetics (a subjective measure based on whether I think it looks hot or not.)” Tiny design flaws can ruin the kink entirely — a cock base ring with no curve causes painful ball chafing, whereas a cage with only one lock can be difficult to slide off your dick for cleaning without removing entirely, thus removing the horny thrill of having your junk completely out-of-use.
Throughout her years as a dominatrix, Miss Jenn has heard a few common complaints from subs about the current range of designs. “Most cages are bulky and can sometimes be seen under clothing,” she explains via DM. “For subs who fly a lot, there are concerns with going through TSA and having agents discover their chastity cage.” Sizing is an issue, too: “One size definitely doesn’t fit or work for all.” It’s not hard to confirm this — Reddit is filled with guys desperate for cages to fit their girthy hogs, to no avail.
That said, Reddit has turned out to be a blessing for guys interested in creating a custom cage. As with most horny, taboo subcultures, chastity communities truly thrive on the forum, where a general cloak of anonymity can enable reviews, photos and stories to be traded with trust. KD, the semi-anonymous designer behind KINK3D, arguably the best-known site for 3D-printed cock cages, says their business simply wouldn’t exist without Reddit. “It’s been a great way to connect with people and help give them the best advice possible,” they explain via email. “It’s also been valuable as a place to start dispelling some of the myths that seem to exist around cock cages — the claim that ‘smaller is better,’ for example. People who are new to cock cages will frequently ask about a cage that’s 100 percent inescapable, but the truth is, the penis is an amazing escape artist! Therefore, we always try to set realistic expectations for what ‘security’ means for these kinds of products.”
The current inaccessibility of at-home 3D printing makes it near impossible for newbies to create their own products — although Sam’s partner, an art student, has sneakily used his university facilities to print him a custom sniffing nozzle for his poppers. For those without a horny art school boyfriend, though, sites like KINK3D are a saving grace.
KD summarizes a few perks of 3D-printed cages: The upfront, startup costs are low compared to conventional manufacturing; models can be consistently tweaked and updated after creation; and finally, “3D printing can produce parts with complex geometries that are impossible or exceedingly difficult to achieve with injection molding.” KINK3D’s Cobra chastity cages are a case in point — “they feature a lattice of organically shaped bars, all in one seamless piece. There is no practical way to mold this shape, therefore 3D printing has been crucial for actualizing my vision for the types of products I wanted to create.”
KD’s mission to create high-tech, high-quality dick cages has earned them a loyal fanbase. “The Cobra cages were a game-changer for me,” says Pup Capri, who first started experimenting with “cheap, off-the-shelf cages from Amazon over six years ago,” and then higher-quality, stainless steel designs from companies like Steelworxx and Red Chili.
Like Sam, Capri has a urethral dick piercing known as a Prince Albert, which can make finding the perfect cage even trickier. Some designs can be hooked through the piercing for extra security (and for cages that aren’t compatible, a “Prince Albert shackle” add-on can be bought) but doing so can pinch against the head of the cock in a pretty painful way. And so, he says the Cobra was a revelation. “The cage didn’t feel like an uncomfortable add-on any more, but rather like a part of me,” he says. “They’re so damn comfortable, light and good-looking that I wanted to wear them longer and longer!” To date, he’s now been locked in a Cobra for six months.
At-home printing for cock cages might be a far-off prospect for most of us, but the technology is clearly out there — even if it’s in its embryonic stages. Brands like KINK3D are changing the game by genuinely engaging with horny chastity subs, taking on their feedback and using their tech savvy to keep tweaking the dick cage designs already on the market.
Speaking of which, for Capri, 3D printing offers a world of possibilities: “The best thing about [the tech] is that it’s technically possible to make a custom-fitted, 3D-printed cage for every chastity boy out there,” he says. “I’m looking forward to the day where we just fill in our exact measurements in a form, and then the desired cage design will be printed and sent to you individually.”
This might be the future of chastity sextech, but depending on which of KINK3D’s enthusiastic clients you speak to, it seems the present-day reality of 3D-printed cock cages is pretty damn great, too. Being behind bars has never looked so appealing.
Jake Hall
Jake Hall is a freelance journalist, fashion features editor and author. Their debut book 'The Art of Drag' is scheduled for release in May 2020.
