A while back, HM4Her delved into the fabulous world of adding gender expression items into our pool of general sex toy to review. Yes, we’ve been reviewing dildos and harnesses, which can also fall under the gender expression umbrella, for a long time, but in those instances, they’ve been used during actual sexual activity. The gender expression ‘toys’ that we are highlighting are something a little different. Before I get into the review, let me first explain a bit about gender expression – a refresher for the folks that read our other gender expression toy posts.
Recap: When it comes to breaking down sex, gender and orientation, I’ve always found this nerdy tech analogy to be helpful. Sex = Hardware; Gender = Software; Orientation = Networking. Basically, Sex is the biological body – the physical; Gender is how you feel internally and how you present yourself to the world; and Orientation is the ways you interact with others. In many instances Sex and Gender match up (known as being “cis-gendered”), and in other cases, they do not. When someone’s body/sex assigned at birth do not match up to their gender identity (how they feel inside), some folks decide to live as the gender they identify as, which is called transitioning, or transgendered. And when folks are transitioning, sometimes they use items that help them express the gender that they identify – hence the name gender expression. Now, there is definitely more to it that just that, but as far as the basics go, that should work.
Onward to the review! Up today is the Private Silicone Packer, a packer designed by the awesome folks at Good Vibrations. Ok, time for another quick recap: a packer is a soft dildo that some trans guys (or other gender variant folks) wear to further feel and outwardly express masculinity – and create a handsome bulge in the front of their pants. While packers are not hard penises or acceptable for sexual penetration, they are usually made of the same quality materials that traditional dildos are made from.
We had an amazing trans guy come in to help out on this one, generously trying this packer out and giving us all the info on the pros and cons of this particular bulge in his briefs. To start off, let’s take a gander at the stats, shall we? The Private Silicone Packer is a 5” x 1 3/8” ‘soft’ dildo sporting realistic (I wanted to type realisdick SO badly!) phallic features and a ball sack. I say soft in quotes, because there really isn’t anything too ‘soft’ about this guy – in fact, he’s pretty firm.
The rigid silicone means that there is no repositioning or dressing to one side (aka. the side of your pants your cock hangs down) – the Private Packer is smack dab in the middle of your pants, parallel to your zipper. And it’s not going anywhere. While our reviewer really enjoyed the way this looked while wearing pants, he wasn’t so keen on how the Private presented in just underwear. While some folks may love it, for him, the bulge was too big and sat unnaturally in his boxers.
A plus of this packer is the defined lip at the base. It keeps the Private held tightly in a packing jock or strap (or harness) and helps to keep it from wandering, as packers sometimes tend to do. Our tester said he felt very secure that the Private wasn’t going to shift or fall out while he was wearing it. The downside of the defined lip is that the whole back of the packer is just as rigid as the shaft, and our reviewer said that while he was wearing it, he could feel it the whole time, reminding him that he was packing. He said that some people may be totally turned on by feeling their packer at all times, but it just didn’t work for him.
When asked to sum it up, our friend shrugged and said that while it’s a decent packer, he is still on the prowl for something that feels more realistic and meets more of his own needs. Well, there you have it.
