The Fleshlight is a brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

 of male sex toy

Sex toy

A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure. The most popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals and may be vibrating or non-vibrating...

s. The Fleshlight is designed and marketed by Interactive Life Forms (ILF). The Fleshlight is named for the flesh-like material used in its inner sleeve, as well as the plastic case that houses the sleeve, which is fashioned to look like an oversized flashlight. The inner sleeve is available with vulva

Vulva

The vulva consists of the external genital organs of the female mammal. This article deals with the vulva of the human being, although the structures are similar for other mammals....

, anus, and mouth orifices. The inner sleeves come in flesh (from a variety of ethnicities) and ice/crystal (see-through) as well as a limited edition blue color for an Avatar-like look, and 48 different internal textures (6 Fleshlight Original textures, 15 Fleshlight Girls textures, 10 Fleshlight Special textures, 5 Sex-In-A-Can textures, 12 Fleshjack Boys textures).

The Fleshlight was designed by Steve Shubin. He was granted a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 in 1998 for his invention, as a "device for discreet semen collection

Semen collection

Semen collection refers to the process of obtaining semen from domestic animals or humans with the use of various methods, for the purposes of artificial insemination, or medical study . Semen can be collected via masturbation, prostate massage, artificial vagina, penile vibratory stimulation and...

". It was also designed to be a safer alternative to real sex, considering STD's, pregnancy, and involuntary celibacy

Involuntary celibacy

Involuntary celibacy is the absence in human sexuality of intimate relationships or sexual intercourse for reasons other than voluntary celibacy, asexuality, antisexualism, or sexual abstinence...

.

Material

The Fleshlight is stated to be made of medical and food grade, phthalate-free polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

s. According to the Fleshlight website, the insert material is called "Real Feel Superskin" and is not made from latex, plastic or silicone. The Fleshlight FAQ claims the material is "a company secret covered by a series of US patents" but according to the public patent, the material is an elastomer

Elastomer

An elastomer is a polymer with the property of viscoelasticity , generally having notably low Young's modulus and high yield strain compared with other materials. The term, which is derived from elastic polymer, is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, although the latter is preferred...

ic gel being formed from a mixture of 90–94% by weight of plasticizing oil

Plasticizer

Plasticizers or dispersants are additives that increase the plasticity or fluidity of the material to which they are added; these include plastics, cement, concrete, wallboard, and clay. Although the same compounds are often used for both plastics and concretes the desired effects and results are...

 and of 5–9% by weight of a block copolymer comprising an admixture of a styrene ethylene

Ethylene

Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...

 butylene

Butylene

In chemistry, butylene may be an alternate name for the hydrocarbon butene, . It is also a divalent functional group with formula 2• that can be seen as the result of removing two hydrogen atoms from a butane molecule, leaving two free bonds....

 styrene block copolymer and a styrene ethylene propylene

Propylene

Propene, also known as propylene or methylethylene, is an unsaturated organic compound having the chemical formula C3H6. It has one double bond, and is the second simplest member of the alkene class of hydrocarbons, and it is also second in natural abundance.-Properties:At room temperature and...

styrene block copolymer combined in a ratio of 1:5 to 5:1.