The Technology of Orgasm Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction (Paperback)
| Author: Rachel P. Maines |
| Format: | Paperback |
Product Details:
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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From the Publisher:
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. |
A serious, historical study on the invention of the electric vibrator in the 19th century and its use to treat what was in that time termed "hysteria."
Praise
"Feminist scholarship exactly as it should be: a work that not only illuminates an astonishing bit of history, but does so with a neat balance of anger, wit and humor....This is a wonderful book." - Carol L. Mithers
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