Man Handles - position accessory discontinued by Man Handles - review by Kayla

The Man Handles are foam blocks designed to make penetration easier. Included with the set is a book of sex positions to use with the Man Handles, and the Man Handles are relatively large at over a foot long and about five inches in width. Though the site lists them at EF as being 1.5 pounds, I doubt the two of them come up to being even a pound in weight; the box seems heavier than the Man Handles themselves. They come in a black-ish, grey color.

The Man Handles are made with sturdy foam. The foam is extremely light-weight, and it doesn't make any noise or crinkles when weight is applied to it. I was a bit worried about it, but the Man Handles have absolutely NO smell to them, and they do not leave any smell on your hands either. The coloring doesn't appear to be chipping off, and the Man Handles also include grooves on the various sides and angles that is supposed to aid in penetration.

For those who are concerned, the weight limit is 300 pounds. As it doesn't specify whether that limit is for each individual block or spread across the two blocks, I imagine it's for spread across the two blocks which means the individual weight-limit for each block is around 150 pounds. Which means they pretty much were intended to be used together.

The Man Handles are just really, really, really unique, and it makes them difficult to judge as a good/bad item just because there isn't too much to compare them to out there. The closest thing to compare them to is Liberator furniture. However, Liberator is made out of a squishy foam that compresses when you place weight on it. The Man Handles are made out of very, very stiff foam that has absolutely NO give to it; it supports weight without giving in. It's basically like having little wood blocks except they're much lighter and you could probably break these foam blocks with EXTREME amounts of effort. (They won't break with regular usage, but I bet I could probably crack them if I put like 400 pounds of weight on a single spot on one of them.)

I even brought some friends into it! I wanted to get multiple opinions just because, honestly, they just were pretty pointless for us. So I wanted to see if it wasn't just a personal thing and maybe others would find more use out of it.

So the general consensus? These will work okay for:

A) Couples who the women doesn't/can't be touched or pushed on too roughly. For those with injuries or possible hang-ups about being moved around too roughly, the blocks make it easier to support weight while thrusting without resting your weight onto another person. I've known some women who have easily-breakable bones, so if it's hard to support the penetrator's weight on your body while having sex, these work okay.

B) Couples who regularly add pillows into the equation. Once you start lifting up the hips by more than just a couple inches, it can be hard for the penetrator to get a good spot for leverage - especially in a missionary position. The blocks basically give you an extra six inches or so in height, so if the penetrator's hands couldn't comfortably reach the bed before, they'll be able to comfortably reach the blocks. Almost HALF of the sex positions suggested in the Man Handles manual include the recipient partner propped up by pillows, so this seems to be one of the main reasons to use the Man Handles.

C) Penetrators with smaller arms. If you tend to have smaller arms or possibly just have a partner who is taller than you (for example, a 5'2" penetrator partnered with a 6'+ recipient), the Man Handles do an okay job of giving you some leverage and adding a bit to your comfort in certain sex positions. This is probably most likely the case with strap-on sex with couples.

D) Those who want to make penetration harder in certain positions. Whether this be because you want to do more body-building and muscle use during sex or just want to do more of a BDSM situation ("You only get to have sex with me for as long as you can hold yourself up!"), this does accomplish that.

So, now, the downsides:
A) I just don't see these going over well with a new partner. Other sex furniture tends to be covered in a softer surface or just looks more luxurious. These do just look like foam blocks and probably will not impress someone you just started having sex with unless you take the time to explain things beforehand.

B) These things make you rely on upper body strength a LOT MORE. For me or my partner, this is a no-no. We just don't have the upper body strength to do it. It's not quite as bad as attempting to balance on a yoga ball or something, but imagine this: without the Man Handles, you can easily just throw your hands on the bed, spread out your fingers, and let your legs take the brunt of the weight. With the Man Handles, though, you've now put your upper body at more of an incline AND moved your weight to a smaller, block-like surface that can topple over to a side if you rest your weight too far outwards on the blocks. It definitely depends more on your upper and core muscles to stabilize. As a non-sexual example (and my personal testing), I can do a push-up on my knees pretty easily and to the ground properly. When attempting to do the same push-up with the Man Handles, I can do maybe one, and it certainly is not correct form.

C) If you use these blocks in their "upright" position, you get very little leverage. In doggy style (at least for us), most of the weight gets placed on the hands and leaning forward onto your partner through your hips. I personally like to grab onto my partner's hips for leverage. Well, imagine putting all of that weight to balance onto two "square poles" that are over a foot tall and have a five inch square base. Nope, so does not happen. When used during sex, it ended up making me get small, tiny amounts of leverage (compared to grabbing my partner) and it made most of my weight go straight onto my partner through my hips to keep my balance. And when I decided to repeat it later in a non-sexual setting? Without my partner in front of me, I actually face-planted into the floor. Ouch. It is just not a steady way to do things.

Cleaning: You should wipe it with a clean, damp cloth if you get any mess on it. You then should put sanitizer on it and let it dry near a fan or ventilated surface. When dry, it specifically says to store it OTHER than in the bed or on the floor. I have no idea why I can't store it on the floor? If you use these anywhere near bodily fluids, they should be considered fluid-bonded.

Overall, if you fit into the narrow categories where the Man Handles will be useful, it's an okay item that is going to last you. The price is definitely higher than what I'd consider a good price for them. For the average couple, I think it's going to be more of a hassle than a help. I thought maybe the instruction book or the online website for them would give me more of an idea as to what they were made for, but both really only give sex positions without any idea as to why you'd use these.