Oh my… history is certainly enlightening!!
Back in the day, there was “no such thing” as a woman’s sex drive. If you were a lady living before the 20th century and were experiencing feelings of anxiety, irritability, nervousness, heaviness in the lower abdomen, wetness between the legs, and erotic fantasies, doctors would diagnose you with “hysteria.”
In order to “cure” hysteria, doctors would apply vegetable oil to a woman’s genitals and message them until the woman suddenly felt a sense of relief. Or in other words, doctors treated hysteria with hand jobs. Because many doctors experienced chronic hand fatigue – achy, cramped fingers – from all the massaging they were doing, maintaining long-term treatment was difficult.
Because of that, physicians experimented with mechanical substitutes for their hands. Thus, the vibrator was born.
Sometimes history is more interesting than anything Hollywood comes up with. Hehe.
I should buy a book on the history of human sexuality, it’s fascinating to see how attitudes towards sex have changed. Oh wait- I have one I haven’t read yet! It’s in my stack of “I want to read these” books. lol.
On a serious note, reading things like this reminds me of the great strides we have made as women- and also just how far we have to go. Female sexuality has long been feared and misunderstood, but we’re making excellent progress in changing that. But we’re not there yet! Once words like “slut” stop being an insult and women aren’t called whores for enjoying sex, then we’ll be getting somewhere.
Life and Other Musings 