For my eighteenth birthday, my partner bought me my first porn subscription: a few months of Kink.com’s then-named Wired Pussy. I had a deep fascination with electrical play and female domination, and a serious crush on site director Princess Donna. But despite my avid interest, I insisted my shocking fantasies (heh) were for viewing pleasure only, and over a decade went by without these kinks manifesting on my side of the screen.
When SheVibe let me choose a toy for review, I knew the time had come. I asked for the Kink Stinger Electro-Play Wand, a battery-operated cattleprod made in a collaboration between Doc Johnson and Kinkdotcom. It’s been a long time since I’ve patronized one of Kink’s many sites, but to this day their logo – emblazoned on the side of this electrical prod, opposite of Doc Johnson – gives me a little thrill.
I was especially interested in the Stinger for two reasons: its incredibly budget-friendly price ($28 USD) and its promise to leave no visible marks. One of the biggest barriers to exploring kink as more than an occasional perversion of hairbrushes or zipties is the price of effective impact toys and bondage gear; there are plenty of cheap crops and flimsy cuffs, but serious kinksters with limited cash need more options. And my partner and I are also keen on fewer marks from play, because it’s summer and we’re in Florida.
The Stinger Electro-Play Wand is made of ABS plastic and is 15 inches tall, with just over 8 inches of its length devoted to its bulky, quilt-patterned handle. The handle is coated with rubber to be non-conductive. The base of the handle turns so that it can be removed; inside there’s space for 2 AA batteries with surface-printed notations for which direction the batteries should face. (The notations are not indented, unfortunately, for folks with sight-related disabilities.) The base cap isn’t a traditional screw-on style and instead is notched so that users only have to partially turn it to open and close the battery compartment.
The Stinger is actually quite light without batteries inside (it weighs less than my gaming mouse), but with its lengthy handle it could be held with two hands if you have very limited lifting capabilities or range of controlled motion. With its lightweight bulkiness and relative ease of use, I think it would be a great purchase for some disabled doms, especially because – unlike most impact toys – it requires very little physical strain to inflict pain.
The toy’s shocking function is controlled by a single, raised plastic button about halfway up the handle; the button is loosely fitted and rattles when jostled, but it’s still very responsive and doesn’t require much pressure to press. Shocks are administered by two minuscule metal prongs on the tip of the prod and seem to only work on skin.
Unlike electro-play toys you may have seen before, the Stinger doesn’t have a visually discernible strand of electricity between its tiny prongs when it’s building or holding a charge. This means that users have to be mindful of when they’ve touched the button and for how long, because the toy itself gives no physical indication it’s storing a sting. There’s a small red light above the button that lights up when the button is being pressed, but it immediately turns off even if you haven’t delivered the shock yet.
However, when you do touch the charged prod to skin, it gives off an impressively bright flash and a crack. It’s an instantaneous but intimidating display (to the uninitiated) even when the shock is minimal. (The box details this as a “loud crackling sound and visual spark,” which is a pretty accurate description.) If discreet play is important to you, the Stinger is probably not ideal – but the crackle and spark are great for terrifying a willing submissive.
