The guy in the YouTube video holds up a clear, stretchy tube as he gushes into the camera.
“[I’m] doing a review on… this product, which I love!!!” he exclaims. “I love it, I’m gonna scream it from the mountaintops, I love this thing… what is it? Let me tell you — it is the Fat Boy Cock Sheath. Yasssss!”
The item about which the reviewer, Brad Smith, is so excited is a sleeve that fits over the penis. Made by a Florida-based company called Perfect Fit, the Fat Boy Stretchy Cock Extender (the toy’s full, given name) is one of the few sex toys for men, and does pretty much exactly what it says it does — extend your dick.
Or, as Smith puts it, “It’ll make you super girth-y! We can all be more girth-y, right?”
Perfect Fit owner and CEO Steve Callow says he created the Fat Boy line in 2011 after recognizing an opportunity in the market. Most other extenders at the time were made from harder material, which could bring a promising evening to a quick halt. “The guy would lose his erection in the process of [having sex],” Callow says. “They were designed only for the receiver’s benefit.”
Wanting to create a product that would feel good to both partners, Callow developed the much softer SilaSkin, a blend of thermoplastic rubber and silicone that compresses as much as it expands. Fat Boys are made completely of SilaSkin, and come in four sizes that add anywhere from a half-inch to a full inch of girth. Lined on the inside with rims and nubs for texture, the toys have holes at the bottom for the testicles, providing stability as well as a little extra tug.
“The idea was to create movement on the penis, and also movement for the receiver,” says Callow. “We wanted both partners to be able to feel pleasure.”
The Fat Boy line is among the more popular extenders on the market, but it’s not the only one. Victor Tobar, the national buying and merchandising manager for the Pleasure Chest, says that most adult toy stores offer a variety of what are alternately called penis sleeves, sheaths, cock enhancers or extenders. They’re used for both partner sex and masturbation, and have a range of differences in design: Some are firmer, some more squishy. Some add a lot of girth, some just a little boost. They come in many different colors and shapes, and there are many add-ons like extra rims or tighter rings at the base.
Tobar adds that the reasons for trying penis extenders are as varied as the customers themselves — and it’s often not about enhanced size at all. “For some people, it’s about changing the sensation of penetration with one that’s super textured or softer,” says Tobar. “Other people want ones that are a little firmer, if they’re having erections that aren’t as firm as they would like them to be. Some are made to look like skin tones, whereas [some] look a little more hardcore and less discreet.”
As for how it feels to be on the receiving end, U.K.-based sex educator Rachael McCoy of Inspiring Sexuality says in her YouTube review, “It looks a little bit scary and daunting. [But] the girth that this is going to add to your man’s cock is insane. And if you’re not struggling in the old girth department, this is just going to make your man’s cock even bigger. … It made [her partner] feel really manly and masculine, but it also made me even tighter, because obviously it pushed everything in together.”
Maybe most importantly, McCoy also addresses the elephant in the room: Wouldn’t most men be too embarrassed to tell their partner that they wanted — or needed — a penis extender?
She claims absolutely not. If anything, she says, it can offer the best of both worlds: “Originally, I would’ve thought [it] would’ve made my man feel a bit inferior. But actually, it made him feel fantastic. We had lots of fun while wearing it, and when it came off, that skin-to-skin contact felt really, really good as well.”
