A brief history of the vibrator

A brief history of the vibrator.

In the late 1800's vibrators were commonplace household appliances, the idea behind this marketing was that the orgasm produced was not sexual. Since the days of Plato, women were told that their uterus could wonder around there body, strangling them if it crossed their chest, and making them ill with hysteria. Hysteria was a strange illness with symptoms which included chronic arousal. It was common for women to regularly visit the doctor in order to overcome these symptoms, the doctor would attempt to coax the wondering uterus back in place by massaging the women's genitals until 'paroxysm' was reached. When this happened the inflamed uterus was reported to released some liquid and the women momentarily lost her breath (Maines, 1999).

There was such demand for this procedure that midwives took over this duty performing mostly for widows and chaste women such as nuns. By the 18th century water jets cropped up in spas specifically to treat hysteria and with the wide spread use of electricity vibratory operating theatres were set up so lots of women could be treated at once. In 1870 a clockwork massager was on the market and 10 years before the electric iron reached peoples homes electric vibrators were sold as regular household appliances. It wasn't until the invention of the porn film that someone caught on.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.

References.

Saul, J. (2006) 'On Treating Things as People: Objectification, Pornography, and the History of the Vibrator', Hypatia, vol. 21, pp. 45-61.

Maines, R. (1999) 'The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction', The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.