ENGLISH

The technology of orgasm : "hysteria," the vibrator, and women's sexual satisfaction

By Rachel P. Maines

Book information

Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press
Year
1998
ISBN
0-8018-5941-7, 0-8018-6646-4, 9780801859410
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3464205 bytes)
Series
Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology new ser. no. 24
Pages
181\192
Time added
2016-04-05 23:00:00

Description

From the time of Hippocrates until the 1920s, massaging female patients to orgasm was a staple of medical practice among Western physicians in the treatment of ''hysteria,'' an ailment once considered both common and chronic in women. Doctors loathed this time-consuming procedure and for centuries relied on midwives. Later, they substituted the efficiency of mechanical devices, including the electric vibrator, invented in the 1880s. In The Technology of Orgasm, Rachel Maines offers readers a stimulating, surprising, and often humorous account of hysteria and its treatment throughout the ages, focusing on the development, use, and fall into disrepute of the vibrator as a legitimate medical device.

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