Apparently Cleopatra already used the primitive version of the device for "intimate massage". In the 20th century, vibrators made a dizzying career. But they weren't originally meant for orgasm at all ... If not to stimulate the clitoris, what were they used for? And why were it mostly men?
Sexologist Brenda Love credited the invention of the vibrator ... to Cleopatra. Already in the 1st century BC, the beautiful ruler was supposed to use a gourd (a vessel made of a hollow gourd) filled with bees to stimulate it.
The history of the vibrator is… surprising!
However, there is no historical evidence to support this revelation. It is known, however, that the first vibrators (powered by a steam engine "Manipulator" by George Tylor and an electric "Percateur" by Joseph Mortimer Granville) were created in the second half of the 19th century. And they made an outstanding career almost immediately.
Was there the clitoris in the beginning?
In 1915, the American Medical Association called the entire "vibrator industry" an illusion and a trap. However, this did not in any way affect the popularity of the devices growing at a crazy pace. For example, at the turn of the 20th century, James Barker of Philadelphia advertised his product by writing:
The Barker vibrator allows you to enjoy the massage at home - refreshes the nerves and the whole body, has a positive effect on the complexion and scalp and eliminates pain . It stimulates circulation (in a natural way - without medication). Your doctor recommends it.
The device was to be invaluable, especially after bathing and exercising. The enterprising American attached a leaflet on vibration therapies to the purchase for free. This is what vibrators were originally meant to be used for - not, as Rachel Maines, a specialist in the history of intimate massagers, argued, for clitoral stimulation.
The thesis repeated after Maines that: “Hysteria was treated through massage. And the vibrator was invented for the same purpose ” so it is not true. Although in fact vibrators were used to treat many diseases - not only female ones.
Vibrators helped with various health problems
Sexual historian Hallie Lieberman says:"Vibrators were invented to treat pain, irritability, indigestion and constipation - in men." The creator of the first patented electric vibrator, Dr. Mortimer Granville, although used his device in the treatment of sexual dysfunction, but never in women of the fair sex.
Vibrating panacea
With time, the use of vibrators became equal, as it turned out that women can also benefit from "shock" therapy. In the first years of the last century, doctors used it to treat over 200 diseases - including rheumatism, impotence, insomnia, deafness and even ... flu or lumbago (shot).
One cannot forget about the famous hysteria, or "uterine dyspnea", for which the only effective remedy - according to Victorian doctors - was an orgasm (and the vibrator was supposed to relieve the doctors who were tired by manual stimulation of patients).
Of course, not in all of the above-mentioned cases the massage could actually help, but it undoubtedly improved the patient's well-being. Producers also praised the salutary power of vibrators in eliminating wrinkles. Between the words, they also suggested its usefulness for masturbation, but since it was taboo at the time, it was not explicitly written or spoken of.
Vibrator ad from 1927
One advertisement from 1908 encouraged the purchase of a Bebout machine with the words: "Invented by a woman who knows a woman's needs" . In turn, the Sanofix device was sold with four different "tips" - separately for the forehead, face, neck and chest massage (and it did not tire the hands!).
There were more vibrating accessories. Depending on the needs, the head could be fitted with a round or square plate, shaft, ball or disc, and even rotating miniature hammers. As you can see, a hundred years ago everyone could find something for themselves!
In contrast, the medical areola was only discarded in the 1950s, when Alfred Kinsey published his groundbreaking study on female sexuality, which found that 62% of women surveyed masturbated. Since then, vibrators have been advertised as devices that give "that great feeling of enjoying life". The development of contraceptive pills and the moral revolution of the 1960s and 1970s did their job. Since then, the personal massager has become what it is today - a tool to achieve ecstasy.
Bibliography:
- Brenda Love, "The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices", Barricade Books 1992.
- Hallie Lieberman, "Buzz:The Stimulating History of the Sex Toy", Pegasus Books 2017.
- Rachel Maines, "Orgasm Technology. »Hysteria«, vibrator and sexual gratification, Aletheia 2011.