Features

We think of the Victorians as the epitome of prudishness. The end of the nineteenth century was a time when table legs wore skirts and the Queen was said to have told her daughter that the only way to endure the marital bed was to “lie back and think of England.” So it comes as a surprise to most people to find that that most modern and liberated tool, the vibrator, dates back to the Victorian era.

In its first incarnation, the vibrator didn't look anything like today's discrete gadgets. They were large, sometimes steam-driven appliances. And they certainly didn't belong in the bedroom. Instead, vibrators could be found in the hallowed offices of the respectable local doctor.
   This is not to say that vibrators weren't used for exactly what we'd expect. Almost from the start, vibrators had one purpose: getting women off. But in a time when the existence of the female orgasm was widely denied by the medical establishment and women's sexuality was the ultimate taboo, the vibrator was strictly a medical treatment for a peculiarly female problem.
   Since the time of the Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, some women were considered to suffer from an affliction caused by the influence of the uterus on their minds. In 1859, this disease, hysteria, was thought to be rampant, affecting as many as a quarter of British women. Hysteria could have almost any symptom. The only thing common to every person diagnosed with hysteria was that they were always female.
   In 1881 a physician named George Beard wrote a list of symptoms of hysteria that ran to 75 pages, and he called that incomplete. It was no wonder, then, that so many women were diagnosed with hysteria, given that the disease encompassed almost every possible presentation. 
   Although hysteria was never such a popular disease as it was at the end of the nineteenth century, it was hardly a new disease in 1881. The first known reference to hysteria can be found in a papyrus dating back to 1990 BC. This referred to a disease caused by the uterus moving upwards in the body and pressing against the diaphragm, causing both physical and bizarre mental symptoms. 
   The word 'hysteria' comes from the Greek hystera, and dates from the time of the famous philosopher and mathematician Plato. He wrote of the uterus traveling around a woman's body, wreaking havoc as it went. When it reached the chest and throat, it caused difficult breathing and fainting. In fact, the uterus was so prone to wandering that some believed that the uterus getting overexcited and moving up to the throat was the reason that women sometimes panted and groaned during sexual intercourse.
   Galen of Pergamon was the foremost doctor of his time, in the second century AD, and is still famous today for his contribution to medicine. He observed hysteria particularly in nuns, unmarried women, widows, and women in unhappy marriages, and concluded that the disease was caused by sexual deprivation. Fortunately, the treatment was quite simple: “Arising from the touch of the genital organs required by the treatment, there follows twitchings accompanied at the same time by pain and pleasure ... from that time she is free of all the evil she felt.”
   This treatment of 'pelvic massage' continued for a very long time. It was not the only treatment for hysteria, but it was undoubtedly one of the more effective in terms of making a woman feel better. It was often delegated to midwives, as the tedious task of producing an orgasm in a woman was not something doctors wanted to bother themselves with. From the time of Galen, physicians would instead recommend less efficient methods of achieving the desired result, such as vigorous horseback riding.
   Eventually, better methods of producing a 'hysterical paroxysm' were sought. One such method was hydrotherapy. It was a popular pastime in the late eighteenth century and onwards to go to a health spa. Many of the treatments available at baths were specifically aimed at women. In 1752 Tobias Smollet remarked at how many devices at Bath were only for ladies. In 1843 a French doctor, Henri Scoutetten, described a 'cold water douche' that was very popular with his patients:
   “The first impression produced by the jet of water is painful, but soon the effect of the pressure, the reaction of the organism to the cold, which causes the skin to flush, and the reestablishment of equilibrium all create for many persons so agreeable a sensation that it is necessary to take precautions that they do not go beyond the prescribed time, which is usually four or five minutes. After the douche, the patient dries herself off, refastens her corset, and returns with a brisk step to her room.”
   There were disadvantages to this treatment. Doctors could not perform it in their rooms, so they were losing patients to these spas. It was relatively expensive, and patients would often have to travel to get it. This was less than ideal given that hysteria was considered a chronic illness that required regular treatment.
   The first mechanical vibrator intended for 'pelvic massage', invented in about 1869 by an American named George Taylor, did not quite solve this problem. In fact, the first vibrators were monstrous beasts compared with any piece of sex equipment you'd find today. In about 1900, the most high-end vibrator was the Chattanooga. It was steam-powered and required two men to shovel coal into the furnace. The action end of the vibrator was in another room, where the doctor would be administering to his thankful patient. The Chattanooga was intended for all sorts of massage in both men and women, including in rectal massage in men. It wasn't just women getting pleasured by their doctors.
   With widespread electricity came a new era in vibrators. Vibrators were among the first pieces of technology to be electrified, even before anyone thought to run irons or vacuum cleaners on electricity. There were dozens of brands and types of vibrators, including musical vibrators and vibrators that delivered a jolt of electricity along with the movement. 
   Vibrators were advertised in all sorts of publications that women read: catalogues, home companions, newspapers, and sewing magazines. They were marketed with vague terms about health and vitality and claims of pain relief, beauty, better digestion, and even curing dandruff. But given their exclusive marketing to women, their previous use and even the wording of some of the ads themselves (“all the pleasures of youth ... will throb within you”), they were almost certainly not only being used for back rubs. The ad including a free attachment to create a vibrating chair was also a dead giveaway.
   Advertising for vibrators disappeared in the 1920s. Nobody knows exactly why this is. According to Rachel P. Maines, the foremost expert on the topic, it may have been due to the advent of pornographic films. These showed vibrators being used unambiguously as tools of self-pleasure, and the facade of health and wellness became impossible to maintain. Vibrators continued to be sold, but they were renamed back massagers and advertised much more discreetly.
   The renaissance of the vibrator occurred in the 1970s, on the tide of the sexual revolution of the previous decade. The first vibrator to be sold explicitly as a sexual aid was called the Prelude, and was manufactured from the mid-'70s onwards. Possibly still more popular, however, were machines like the Panabrator, the supposed purpose of which was body massage. The first sex store aimed at women, named Good Vibrations, opened in San Francisco in 1977. 
   Vibrators really made it into the public spotlight in 1998 with the Sex and the City episode Turtle and the Hare, in which Carrie becomes addicted to her Rabbit vibrator. Television even just twelve years ago was much more conservative in what would be shown today, and this episode resulted not only in the immediate popularity of the Rabbit, but in a more widespread awareness of vibrators in general.
   Now, of course, there are almost limitless possibilities for vibrators. Many of the most popular, for example the powerful Hitachi wand, are still sold as 'neck massagers'. For women in search of more novelty, there are clitoral vibrators, G-spot vibrators, vibrating dildos, rabbits (which stimulate the vagina and clitoris simultaneously), waterproof vibrators, vibrating eggs, bullets, and more. Vibrators can be for use by one person or two, as with cock-rings and remote-controlled vibrators. There are even vibrating butt-plugs. We've come a long way since the time of the Chattanooga.
 
   Sidebars
 
   Symptoms of Hysteria
   * Fainting
   * Anxiety
   * Heaviness in the abdomen
   * Irritability
   * Sexual fantasies
   * Loss of appetite
   * Vaginal lubrication
 
   A Brief History of Hysteria
   1990 BC: an Egyptian papyrus describes a disease caused by the upward pressure of the uterus. It is said to cause bizarre physical and mental symptoms.
   ca. 429-347 BC: Plato says of women that “The animal within them [the uterus] is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining unfruitful gets discontented and angry, and wandering in every direction through the body drives them to extremity, causing all varieties of disease.”
   ca. 460-377 BC: Hippocrates describes how women's reproductive organs could cause dizziness, paralysis, and sensory disturbances by moving around.
   ca. 129-216 AD: Galen theorises that hysteria is caused by sexual abstinence. He prescribes pelvic massage with oils by a midwife or sexual intercourse within marriage as the treatment.
   Fifth century AD: Hysteria is thought to be a symptom of demonic possession.
   Renaissance Period (fourteenth-seventeenth centuries AD): Theories about hysteria return to the idea of the 'strangulated womb'. Treatments involve stimulating the genitals by horse riding, dancing, and particularly marriage and sexual intercourse.
   1890s: Freud claims that hysteria is not related to the genitals and shouldn't be treated by genital stimulation, but instead is caused by past psychological trauma and should be treated with talk therapy.
   1952: The American Psychiatric Association drops 'hysteria' as a diagnosis, although 'hysterical neuroses' and 'hysterical personality disorder' hang on for another few decades.
 
   The Victorians and the Solitary Vice
   The Victorian era (1837-1901) was a time of contradictions. At the same time as doctors were regularly masturbating female patients to the point of orgasm, masturbation in general was thought to be not only morally dubious but dangerous to one's health. 'Onanism', 'self-abuse', or 'the solitary vice' was a health epidemic of such proportions as to compete with hysteria. According to Orson Fowler, publishing in the journal Sexual Science in 1870, “It not only poisons your body, destroys your rosy cheeks, breaks down your nerves, impairs your digestion, and paralyzes your whole system; but it also corrupts your morals, creates thoughts and feelings the vilest and worst possible, and endangers your very soul’s salvation! No words can describe the miseries it inflicts throughout your whole life down to death. But its ravages do not stop there. They follow you and prey on you forever! You can never fully rid yourself of those terrible evils it inflicts.”
   This attitude to masturbation was in line with general attitudes to sex at the time. Because sex was considered to be primarily for the purpose of procreation, any kind of sexual activity not intended to lead to pregnancy was frowned upon: homosexuality, anal or oral sex, and prostitution are some examples.
   There were a variety of anti-masturbation devices available to protect one from this scourge. Some involved spikes and locks and metal in places we wouldn't want to even think about. But weighed up against the terrible ill-health and eternal damnation caused by masturbating, they must have seemed like the better option.
 
   Bad Vibrations: Vibrator Controversy Today
   Vibrators aren't universally accepted. Selling vibrators is illegal in many countries, including India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. Astonishingly, sex toys are also illegal in many states in the USA, either explicitly as in Alabama or under obscenity laws. Vibrators must be sold as novelty items not intended for sexual use, or as that old favourite, the 'neck massager'.
   Some religious groups in the US believe that vibrators are dangerous and immoral. Dan Ireland, a preacher who is particularly outspoken against sex toys, claims that "Sometimes you have to protect the public against themselves ... These devices should be outlawed because they are conducive to promiscuity, because they promote loose morals and because they entice improper and potentially deadly behaviours." He believes that “there is no moral way to use one of these devices.”
   In 2003, a 43-year-old Texan mother of three was arrested for selling a vibrator to two undercover police officers and giving them a description of how to use it. Had she sold it to them without discussing its purpose, it would have been legal. Yes, the police actually bothered to send officers undercover to catch someone selling sex toys. Fortunately, the law that allowed this was overturned in 2008, but the ban still stands in Alabama.
 
   Nothing New: the Ancient History of Sex Aids
   Dildo: the earliest known sex toys are stone dildos dating back at least 30 000 years. Ancient Egyptians and Greeks both used dildos and depicted them in art. The first rubber dildos were manufactured in 1966.
   Ben-Wa Balls: ben-wa balls, or pleasure balls, may have been around since as far back as 500 AD, and were reportedly widespread in parts of Asia in the sixteenth century. They consist of a number of marble-sized balls on a string or chain, which are inserted into the vagina or anus.
   Pornography: carved stone figurines with exaggerated breasts and hips have been dated back to 25 000 years ago. Some archeologists suggest that these are some sort of fertility symbol, while others claim them as the first known pornography.
   Penis Extenders: penis extenders were depicted in the Kama Sutra, the original sex manual, in 200 AD.
   Cock Rings: the first cock rings are thought to have been invented in China in around 1200 AD. They were made of dried goat's eyelids, with the eyelashes remaining attached for extra sensation.