Possibly the best medical discovery ever known to women.
Recently, I came across a hitherto unknown (to me) bit of trivia about the female body. Turns out that the breasts may sag, the belly may bag, the butt may drag, but when it comes to pleasure, the Goddess upstairs decided to make up for all that by giving us a little gem, the, ahem, clitoris. Not only does the clitoris have twice as many nerve endings as a man’s penis (its anatomical equivalent), it also never ages. From birth until death, the female ‘fun button’ as Courtney Bee, the sexual health examiner calls it, is there at your, er…her service. (For more clitoral fun facts, click here)
Besides putting a smile on my face, this factoid reminded me of the history of the vibrator. It turns out that back in the day when a woman was diagnosed with ‘hysteria,’ she went to her local physician for treatment. And he (mind you, this is over 100 years ago, when women were not yet doctors) would then proceed to stimulate her until she had an orgasm. You read correctly. Her doctor would massage, tickle, rub and titillate a female patient’s genitals until she came. How do you spell relief?
But masturbating can take time, and a busy doctor’s schedule didn’t always accommodate rubbing her parts. That is when a man named Kelsey Stinner put his creative juices to work, and invented a device to do the same: the vibrator. By the late 1880’s, you could actually find vibrators in all the major catalogues, like the Ladies Home Journal, JC Penny’s and Sears Roebuck. Tis true; Modern Love would never joke about something this sublime (check out the slideshow below for some fun evidence to all of this).
With all the bad news on women’s happiness, Modern Love thought that sharing this could put the ‘O’ in your 'jOy' at a time when we all need it. We know that this pint-sized and shy (most of it is hidden from view) part of the woman’s body is a mystery, and some valves need more tending to than others. And that is why we also appreciate every man who has mastered the gentle art of clitoral persuasion, as well as the invention of what some may call, the greatest gadget ever made. But I'll leave that up to each reader to decide, of course!
For more fun reading:
Breast, boobies or bubbles: by any name, they are glorious all the same
Five ways to put some sex back in your love life
Don't try to trim a man's edges: marriage and accepting flaws
It's not just where you touch us, but how, that matters
Ecstatic vs. junk-food sex: there is a difference
Follow me on twitter: ModernLoveWritr. Send email questions/comments to tmbsdre@yahoo.com.
All Modern Love Examiner articles ©2009 by Tinamarie Bernard; reposts permitted with link back to original article. All other rights reserved.
Comments
This is wonderfully historical, hysterical, and a really good show!
Happiness/ R
Great article! I love the fact that women used to go to the doctor to get "relief"...lol. I saw a show on the history channel about that very thing.
Funny!
What a delightful article. Made my morning. Thanks and thanks for the slide show, too.
Thanks ladies, I aim to please! :)
Wow.... this could really bring new meaning to health care reform!
This is great, thanks for the chuckle!
Loved the slide show!LOL!!
Thank you for your beautifully put comment on my latest article - you are a breath of fresh air!
Wonderful Tina!
I can appreciate the thoughts in this article. Our bodies are truly wonderfully made. I have to add though, that the stimulation by these doctors was IMO more often abuse than truly to actually benefit the women. I mean, think about this logically. If it was not about the doc also getting his rocks off, why not simply give the woman some instruction on how to achieve orgasm herself? Not only that, but the fact that these men were using manual stimulation for women who were actually depressed or otherwise suffering from mental illness...
I did enjoy the article, just thought it should be pointed out that this particular "prescription" was probably more about the doctors getting their jollies at the woman's expense.
Dear Anne,
I totally understand your thoughts on this. Years ago, when I first learned this, is was from reading an academic thesis on the topic (imagine that study!) and from my recollection, and research for this piece, the treatment was not considered sexual at the time. Whether or not the doctor was getting his jollies, or if his female patient didn't know how to self-stimulate, can't fully be known by us, 150 years later. The important thing to note is that we see this from our paradigm - in which vibrators and masturbation are sexual - and at the time, all the literature I read (granted, not ALL by any means) suggests that the view on this was that masturbation was a medical treatment. Perhaps like a breast exam today...and we wouldn't want to think that every time a doctor exams a woman's breasts, he's getting his jollies. :)
Thank you for reading and please come back! Best/T
I remember reading about Freud's studys on hysterical women coming to conclusion of administering the new vibrating mechanism to cure them of their "illness". All the while he was simply constructing a new method of control over the female psyche by convincing his female patients they could only receive proper treatment via a doctor such as himself. God bless the free market and capitalism broke those "church of the mind" bonds.
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