New to the West End is Sarah Ruhl’s “In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play”. Apparently ‘women’s magazines if the late 19th century [were] full of adverts for vibrators.”
This much I think I knew. But what startled me was the author’s comment that:
“I was shocked to find that doctors used vibrators on their patients, and almost more shocked to discover that they thought it was a delightful time-saving device because they had done it manually before.”
I’d never previously imagined me enjoying medical roleplay, but a doctor seeking to ‘cure’ the uptight daughter of (say) the magistrate has such potential to humiliate a girl. And what of the blushing lass being spanked during her second appointment for confessing that she had “failed to practice the techniques I taught you last time”, or the young wife of the local magistrate being whipped by her husband when I caught her following doctor’s orders?
Actually, as far as I understand, such devices were meant to be used by doctors to correct “hysterical disorders”, and female patients were not authorized to handle their private parts by themselves. Also, the notion of pleasure was officially absent.
….errrr…the notion of correcting hysterical disorders with items that can cause hysterical looking movements….so, so funny…those poor or maybe I should say, those lucky ladies.
There is a quite entertaining film, you might want to watch for further education: “Hysteria” with Maggie Gyllenhaal.
I really must watch “Hysteria” sometime 😉
In fact, it was specifically female hysteria, as opposed to any other kind of hysteria a man might suffer. It was also called the widow’s disease, because it was thought that it was a result of the woman’s semen going ‘off’ within her, and it was recognised very early on – around 13th century! If sex with hubby didn’t do the job – try a horseback ride! In the 17th century, the treatment was also recommended for female religious…. makes one wonder about all those nuns having ecstasies….
The docs, of course, soon moved on to pelvic massage, and the first vibrators were created not as relief of this “illness”, but to prevent the docs’ aching hands! When electricity was first discovered, it was also used to bring relief to this, among other, medical condition.
When I was a child we had in our house a wimshurst machine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimshurst_machine) which stood around 6 or 7 feet high. This had been used decades earlier for generating electricity for use in an ancient relative’s pharmacy, for patient relief…. I believe, but have no proof that it was in some way connected to water baths.
The truly perverted here might enjoy http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/201303/hysteria-and-the-strange-history-vibrators and
https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/maines-technology.html