A Field Trip to the Vibrator Museum

I bet you just can’t wait to see the permission slip for this one. Yes, Virginia, though they’ve been in existence for almost 150 years, the vibrator museum celebrating these noble devices is relatively new. Should you venture to the hilly streets of San Francisco, you’ll find it on Valencia Street, proudly showcasing antique vibrators and a selection of other sensual aids from days gone by. Read More

A Whirlwind History of the Vibrator

Vibrators have come a long way from when the types of vibrating sex toys for women available were Classical Era contraptions involving carts driven over rough stone roads and crude planks swung back and forth to induce vibration and, hopefully, orgasm. The history of the vibrator reveals technology at work to reduce what was regarded as onerous manual labor. (You’ve got to use your hand to bring a woman to orgasm? Horrors.) Vibrators went from devices that were used for the “medically therapeutic” treatment for female hysteria, which became commonplace household items when late-19th century technology made electric vibrators and battery vibrators readily available, to demonized items of moral degradation through the mid-20th century, to the ubiquitous sex toys of our modern age. The history of the vibrator is a strange tale of changing mores and perceptions, and ultimately of the recognition of women as sexual beings. Read More

The Golden Age of Female Hysteria

Until it was finally laid to rest in the mid-20th century, female hysteria was a favored diagnosis for physicians for a litany of symptoms. As you’d guess from its vernacular, female hysteria was a condition which afflicted women exclusively. Symptoms of this dread disease included anxiety, crying fits, surliness, and any behavior that a Victorian-era husband would find improper from his wife. Dating from Plato’s dialogues, female hysteria was assumed to be caused by the womb roving around within a woman’s body, mucking up the works. Galen, famed physician of the 2nd century, was the first to trip onto the notion that this might have something to do with female sexual satisfaction. He noted that deprivation of orgasm among healthy women brought on classic female hysteria symptoms, noting that pelvic massage often brought about beneficial results in the patient. Not a big surprise; a good orgasm can do wonders for your day. Read More