When it comes to simple, comfortable dildos, the Silk Medium is a classic. Its design is just about as simple as it gets: gently curved cylindrical shaft, rounded head, disk base. It is the middle child in the Silk family, between the very little Small and the grander Large. Together, they can be a graduated training set to teach your body to play with increasingly large toys. Apart, they are good no-frills dildos.

The size and shape of the Silk Medium make it a good beginner toy for either vaginal or anal play. It's substantial enough to be held in place and rocked or ground against, and smooth enough to make even the most vigorous thrusting comfortable. More advanced users will find it a nice warm-up toy for working up to larger pleasures.

Made of Tantus's firm silicone, the Silk is very slick and shiny for a silicone toy. Once lubricated, most of the friction disappears. It is dense, yielding only slightly to squeezes, but because of the narrow diameter it can be curved with very little effort. The smooth texture makes this a good choice for beginners, especially to anal play. The silicone has no smell or taste.

The Silk Medium's design is simple and classic. The shaft is a smooth cylinder that curves ever so slightly to reach out and caress the nearest G or P spot. The head is gently rounded, easing the insertion. The base is a simple little disk of the same silicone as the rest of the toy. Unfortunately, this base is in many ways too thin: it's too thin to let the toy stand up on its own, it's too thin to really grab onto as a handle, and it's too thin to make the toy really stable in most harnesses. It's not too small to keep the toy safe for anal, nor is it too small to give the driver something to hang on to, so it's not a total loss.

The simple, not-a-penis design of the Silk isn't going to fool anyone, though. If you leave this out on your dresser, it still looks like a dildo. Be that as it may, it's small enough to easily pack in a purse or back pack, or to toss in your luggage for travel. It fits just about anywhere, and there's nothing to set off alarms at the airport. Plus, if they manhandle your luggage, it won't get hurt.

I bought the Silk Medium (in a pearly Mint Green that has been discontinued) as an anal training toy, and for that purpose it works very, very well. I needed something comfortable and simple in this size range to help me work up to larger toys, something I could use easily and then clean up just as easily. The Silk Medium is a great size for me as a beginner to use when warming up for larger toys. The smooth shape offers little resistance, and there's nothing fancy going on to distract me. If I need vibrations to help relax, I can press a vibrator to the base, and the whole thing shivers. It's comfortable, pleasurable, and gets the job done without any fuss.

As a vaginal toy, I wasn't so thrilled with the Silk Medium. The shape is nice, but I'd probably enjoy it more in the Large. After the first few minutes of use, when I start really getting going and my body gets into a groove and getting ready, it's just not big enough. Those who need or prefer toys of this size will find it much more fulfilling.

The one place where the Silk Medium really fell through was in a harness. I tried it in both a harness with a stretchy ring, and a fixed ring. A few good, hard tugs, and the base started slipping through the stretchy ring. With the fixed ring harness, I dug out my smallest ring... which was still too big. I tried to make do, but gentle tugs brought the thin base right out through the ring. A thicker base would have made this a much better toy for harness use, especially pegging. A good sphincter will have this dildo out of most harnesses faster than you can say "sparkly green dildos!"

Because it is made of 100% platinum cured silicone, this is a very easy toy to care for. If you're using it for just one orifice and one person, day-to-day cleaning with soap and water or toy cleaners is fine. If you want to share between partners or orifices, sterilize in between by boiling the toy or soaking it in a 10% bleach solution. It can also be tossed in the top rack of the dishwasher (no detergent). Silicone lubricants are not recommended for use with the Silk Medium, because they may bond permanently to the toy, making it tacky and impossible to clean completely. High quality silicone lubes like that made by Pjur are sometimes safe. Make sure to do a spot test on the base before using any silicone lube. Water and oil based lubes are all safe for use with this toy.