The History of the Vibrator
Can you believe in the 1800’s there was a medical condition known as female hysteria. No, it wasn’t that women had missed out on the half-price Jimmy Choo sale!
It was our dear ancestors suffering from symptoms such as irritability, heaviness in the abdomen, fluid retention and headaches! So off to the Doctors they would pop, where they would be relieved of their symptoms by his healing hands. Through massage, doctors would create ‘hysterical paroxysm” otherwise known as orgasm!
Dr Swift, hard at work !
These women were the perfect patients as they were not incurable, yet they required treatment every few weeks, providing a steady stream of income for doctors.
The problem for the doctors was that inducing “hysterical paroxysm” was a “hands on” job that required technique and was time consuming. Demand for this treatment was growing as women were talking to each other about how great they were feeling. The solution came via a British doctor who invented the first electric vibrator, an industrial sized contraption that was designed to be a permanent fixture in the doctor’s office. This was a labor saving device and meant the treatment could now take 10 minutes instead of up to an hour. More patients, more money!
By the early 1900’s the spread of home electricity had given women some great time saving appliances for the home. Now I know you are thinking that 100 years ago ladies considered the vacuum cleaner and
iron as the essential home appliances.
Now those ladies could teach us a thing or two about wellbeing, they chose a vibrator as their preferred appliance. The electric home vibrator was on the market before many other home appliance ’essentials’. It was the 5th electrical appliance to be introduced into American homes, 9 years before the vacuum cleaner and 10 years before the electric iron. In fact in 1909 Good Housekeeping magazine ran a “tried and tested” on vibrators claiming they brought a glow to the face. By 1917 there were more vibrators in American homes than toasters. Well, you know what they say, ‘happy wife, happy life’!! Vibrators were widely advertised for women’s wellbeing as shown below in this ad from 1916.
Around the 1920s when stag movies came out and vibrators were shown in a more sexualized light, they went underground. They resurfaced in the 1950’s through to the 1970s, camouflaged as vacuum cleaner attachments, nail buffer kits and were widely available through mail order catalogues.
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In 1998 the hit TV show Sex and the City, Charlotte discovers the joy of a vibrator. From this episode vibrators became more visible in mainstream public culture.
Shows like Sex and the City have opened up discussion amongst today’s women about their sexual wellbeing. Women want to embrace their sensuality and accessories such as vibrators are as much today part of our culture as they were in the 1800’s! It’s just vibrators got lost in history, their reputation tarnished.
101 years later and the Be Be by Love Being Woman has been” tried and tested” as one of the top 5 vibrators in Cosmopolitan UK magazine. There is no doubt vibrators are great for your sensual wellbeing as their steady, constant vibration allows optimal stimulation for reaching climax easily. So let’s keep the tradition going along with the glowing cheeks and a smile on our face with the essential home appliance, the Be Be vibrator!
