Many think they know the story, but the truth is a bit more complicated
Kirsten Wiltshire (she/her) // Crew Writer
Chelle Lussi (any) // Crew Illustrator
Sex toys have been a part of the human experience for a long time (like, really long) with the first phallic artifact dating back to around 28,000 BCE. It’s not confirmed that these dildo-like stone, clay or wooden creations were specifically used for sexual acts, but it’s not not confirmed. Over thousands of years, these ‘tools’ progressed and appeared across different cultures worldwide, from ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, India, China and the Roman Empire. The technology remained fairly rudimentary until the 19th Century, when the vibrator was created, signaling a huge advancement in pleasure.
It all starts with hysteria. The concept of hysteria as a psychological disorder (more of a demonological belief at its origin) dates back to the era of ancient Egypt. Any person with a uterus was susceptible to this disorder, as the cause was believed to be the mere presence of a uterus. It evolved to be a catch-all term for any disruptive behaviour that women expressed. The story goes that in the 19th Century, doctors would clitorally stimulate women with hysteria to achieve a ‘hysterical paroxysm’ which included heavy sighing, moaning and full-body convulsions…so, an orgasm. In the 20th Century, hysteria was treated with the use of the vibrator as a relief for doctors’ weak and fatigued fingers.
According to pop culture folklore (such as the film Hysteria and the play “In the Next Room”), women would feign a hysterical flare-up so that a medical professional would use a vibrator on them to induce hysterical paroxysm. It was spun as subversive empowerment for women; you go to the doctor, tell them you’re losing your marbles, get access to a vibrator to blow off some steam and no one is the wiser. But here’s the rub; the origin story is a myth.
The popular story originated from a book titled The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel Maines. Maines took liberties when she hypothesized about the use of vibrators for hysteria. Hallie Lieberman, a sex historian at Georgia Institute of Technology, reviewed each of Mainse’s primary sources in the Journal of Positive Sexuality in 2018. Lieberman found no evidence that vibrating machines were used clitorally, or that they were used to treat hysteria. Vibration was used in the medical industry to treat an array of ailments such as pain, deafness, spinal disease or even constipation.
So no, there is no evidence that doctors were helping women masturbate as a treatment for hysteria. It is, however, true that vibrators and vibrating machines originated from the medical industry and that vibration was used as a treatment for different ailments, such as menstrual pain and uterine prolapse. In the early 1900s, vibrator technology had progressed to a smaller and more portable appliance, and they became regular household items. Think of it as an early 20th-Century thera-gun.
But sexual pleasure, especially for women, was seen as debaucherous and obscene and their absorption of the vibrator as an erotic tool outweighed other marketable medical qualities of the vibrator. The household vibrator was adopted by women as a sexual toy, making it hard for makers of the appliance to continue marketing it as anything other than a tool for female pleasure. The risk of lascivious association with the vibrator was too powerful.