There’s something about self-thrusting toys that always makes me glad I was born a millennial pervert and not a medieval peasant. Sure, we have climate change and creeping fascism to contend with, but at least we can get fucked well while we’re getting fucked over!
It wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted your butt plug to jiggle in and out of you, you’d have to do the jiggling yourself — or enlist a cute and helpful person to do it. But these days, more and more self-propelled products like the A-Play Thrusting Adventurous Plug are being launched into the market (and into our holes), ensuring a high-tech masturbatory experience that even our horniest forebears could only have dreamed about.
What Is the A-Play Thrusting Adventurous Plug?
Doc Johnson is one of the most recognizable names in the sex toy biz, having been around since the 1970s. While they’re better known for cheap rubber dongs found on the shelves of sex shops across the country, they’ve definitely got range, too: A-Play is their line of high-end anal toys, “created with a variety of sizes and special features to promote anal pleasure and exploration for users of every experience level.”
All the A-Play toys are USB-rechargeable and made of smooth, body-safe silicone. They also all come with a convenient handheld remote that allows you to switch vibration settings without needing to reach down and locate a button on the base of your plug — which, as you know if you’ve ever done it, can really interrupt your flow. The remote itself is battery-powered, not rechargeable, though, so you’ll have to keep some AAAs in stock if you want to use it.
The Thrusting Adventurous Plug in the A-Play line uses a self-thrusting technology built around a motorized weight. When you turn on one of its seven thrusting modes, the toy starts thumping back and forth. “Thrusting” is a bit of a misnomer, in that you’re not going to get an actual in-and-out motion going, the way you might with a penis or strap-on dildo. But the pulsation can feel more-or-less like thrusting anyway, especially in the way it taps against your prostate (or, through the vaginal wall, your G-spot).
Speaking of targeting those internal erogenous zones: The shape of this plug isn’t amazing for that, since its shaft is straight rather than curved. But it’s a good size for intermediate users and ambitious beginners, with 4.25 inches of insertable length and a 1.5-inch diameter at its largest point. Like many butt plugs, it’s got a tapered tip that allows you to take more and more girth little by little as you push the toy deeper inside of you. Better yet, the plug’s flared base ensures it won’t get lost inside you and make you the laughingstock of your local emergency room.
A-Play plugs are water-resistant, rather than being waterproof — which means you can safely wash ‘em in the sink, and they won’t be ruined if you wear one during shower sex, for example, but you shouldn’t submerge them fully underwater.
This plug comes with a cute little storage bag, in which you can also stash its charger and remote. As someone prone to misplacing sex toy accessories and not realizing it until the very moment when I need them most (ugh!!), I appreciate this touch.
What People Are Saying About It
In a video review of the Thrusting Adventurous Plug, sex educator Tawney Seren noted that the toy’s remote and the toy itself both only have one button on them, so you have to cycle through all seven modes if you want to get back to a previous one, which she says can be annoying in the heat of the moment.
Seren also pointed out that the inflexibility of this plug makes it suitable for some purposes and less so for others. “It’s nice and firm, so this is a great toy for short-term wear. It’s really comfortable for a little bit,” she explained. “You don’t want to wear it too long, ‘cause it’s really firm.” If you do choose to wear this plug for more than an hour or so at a time, however, you might want to take it out briefly to re-lube it every now and again, for comfort’s sake. (Use the water-based kind, so as not to damage the toy with silicone-based lube.)
A handful of happy customers have reviewed the Thrusting Adventurous Plug on the Bellesa Boutique website, giving it an impressive overall rating of 4.81 stars. “The thrusting was just enough to help push a regular O over the edge to an even more amazing one,” one wrote. As with any kind of thrusting or vibrating butt plug, you can use the Thrusting Adventurous Plug on its own or you can combine it with other sensations you know and love, like using a stroker or vibrator on your junk or receiving oral sex. It could even be interesting to wear this plug underneath a harness during strap-on sex, so that you’re simultaneously thrusting and being thrusted into, like the middle of a sexy sandwich.
One reviewer wrote, mysteriously, “Perfect size, love the way you can use it for more than just anal stuff.” No further explanation was provided on how they were using it, but vaginal penetration is definitely a possibility with butt plugs. Just make sure that you fully sanitize anything that’s been in an ass before you put it in a vag, by washing it with soap and water, wiping it down with rubbing alcohol or a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water and then rinsing very thoroughly. Obviously, thrusting can feel just as nice vaginally as it does anally, and some people even prefer the smooth, gently tapered shape of a plug over a traditional dildo shape when getting penetrated there.
Sex toy reviewer Felicity of Phallophile Reviews enjoyed the A-Play plug, but found that it tended to get ejected from her ass at the moment of orgasm, because its neck design doesn’t keep it anchored in place well enough during those intense muscle contractions. It’s actually common for self-thrusting toys to wriggle their way out of orifices even when you’re not coming. “Gotta put a hand below its base to keep it in!” suggests Felicity. If you’re lying down in bed, putting a pillow between your spread legs — so that the base of the plug rests against it — can achieve a similar effect.
The A-Play Thrusting Adventurous Plug definitely has its flaws, like only having one button, lacking a P-spot-focused curve and not being fully waterproof. That said, if you want a gentle thrusting sensation in your ass, this is one of the best tools for the job. At $129, it ain’t cheap, but considering that toys with this self-thrusting technology can cost $200 or more, it’s not awful either. There’s something about thrusting that can feel better, hotter, more primal and more “real” than vibration — and if that’s a feeling you crave, it’s worth splurging a little so you can feel it any time you want.
Kate Sloan
Kate Sloan is the author of the books '101 Kinky Things Even You Can Do' and '200 Words to Help You Talk About Sexuality & Gender,' and has reviewed over 300 sex toys on her blog at GirlyJuice.net, to the chagrin of her high school guidance counselor. She also cohosts the podcasts 'The Dildorks' and 'Question Box.'
