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What offensive linemen are to football and instant-read thermometers are to grilling, dildos are to sex toys: The unsung heroes.

At its most distilled, “a dildo is a sexual device that can be used for pleasure in a variety of ways,” Rufus Spann , Ph.D., an AASECT-certified sex therapist in Washington, D.C./Baltimore, and founder of Libido Health, tells Men’s Journal . Yep, while penis rings are primarily designed to help maintain erections and butt plugs mostly, you guessed it, plug your butt, dildos are kind of the toy-of-all-trades.

How do you use a dildo? Well, dildos can usually be used for vaginal and anal penetration —provided they have the appropriately flared base for anal use, that is.…