A note in the history of gynecology
Talk about electric sex: Let us now praise Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville, “Mort” in my book. He changed the nature of medical practice and masturbation all in one invention: the electromechanical vibrator.
I chanced upon this fragrant snatch of sociomedical history recently and had to share it, as it’s highly unlikely that while embedded in the usage of these multifarious toys, we are cogitating about how they came to be invented.
And therein lies a tale. Remember what used to be called “women’s hysteria”? As history tells it, starting with the father of Medicine, Hippocrates, around 400 B.C. and ending in the mid-20th century, doctors (we can assume they were mostly male) were baffled by women’s symptoms that included anxiety, insomnia, nervousness, irritability, erotic fantasy, lower pelvic edema, and vaginal lubrication. Hysteria was considered a disease, and the most common treatment for it was having a doctor ”massage the genitalia with one finger inside, using oil of lilies, musk root, crocus’ or something similar. And in this way the afflicted woman can be aroused to the paroxysm.” (NB: In the liberal 13th century, dildoes were recommended for nuns.)
Even the reputable reference guide for physicians, the Merck Manual, in its 1899 edition lists massage as the treatment for hysteria (along with sulfuric acid for nymphomania). Hysterics were a godsend to the medical profession, forming “a circle of everlasting patients.”
These facts are duly detailed in a landmark book by needlework historian Rachel P. Maines, called ”The Technology of Orgasm: ‘Hysteria,’ the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction.” (1) Um … needlework? Apparently Ms. Maines was cavorting through 1906 copies of Modern Priscilla and Women’s Home Companion when she tripped over advertisements for vibrators. Next to “Electric radiator—fine for the cold bathroom, bedroom” was found “Portable vibrator—neat, compact with three applicators” and “Aids that every woman appreciates.”
This new use of electricity was discovered right along with other domestic, time-saving electrical devices such as the teakettle, the toaster, and the vacuum cleaner. Suck, eat, and whistle?
Is it not hilarious, if not also disconcerting, to learn that doctors fought valiantly against this terrible disease, which of course was classic sexual arousal. Their basic treatment of digital do-me, female genital massage rarely appeared to acknowledge that the cure for these symptoms was a fricken O.
What’s more, apparently these learned men grew weary of helping their female patients achieve a “hysterical paroxysm” (nice euphemism, eh?). Their poor fingers got tired, so — sound familiar, girls? — they had trouble sustaining the treatment long enough to produce desired results. Even though, according to Maines, they even had the assistance of massaging midwives, wind-up vibrators. jolting chairs, hydrotherapy, muscle beaters (a forerunner of BDSM?), ascending douches, vaginal electrodes, and pneumatic equipment (we won’t ask).
Too much work, fellas! Enter the electromechanical vibrator. Designed in the late 1870s by our friend Mort, by the turn of the century there were at least two dozen models available to the swelling female public. There were musical vibrators, undulating wire coils called vibratiles, floor models on rollers, vibratory forks, counterweighted vibrators, and vibrators that hung from the ceiling.
They were powered by water turbine, gas engine, air pressure, electric current, and battery foot pedal (evocative of the Singer sewing machines). They shook at speeds ranging from 1,000 to 7,000 pulses per minute (faster than fingers, thank you very much). And they were smartly priced to fly off the shelves, ranging from $15 to the high-end Chattanooga, a mere $200 plus freight in 1904.
Let it be noted that the vibrator’s use was not limited to “pelvic hyperemia,” or genital congestion; it was also used to treat constipation, arthritis, and other ills also suffered by men. However, the vibrator outlasted the disease it was supposed to cure. In 1952, when the American Psychiatric Association struck hysteria from its list of mental illnesses, an angel got his wings.
I think ol’ Mort would be pleased. Today there is no end to the quantity and variety of choices. According to the babeland.com press kit, (2) sales attributable to vibrators were 41 percent in 2005, compared with 6 percent for cock rings. The number of vibrators sold in their first year, 1993, was 500; in 2006, that figure was 167,250. We know what we like: Almost 60 percent of women masturbate with a sex toy.
And though the vibrator may have been conceived initially for vaginal penetration, we’ve come a long way, baby. Stay tuned.
(1) ”Hysteria,” the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction. By Rachel P. Maines. Illustrated. 181 pp. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. $22.)