''Hysteria'' and the Strange History of Vibrators

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/201303/hysteria-and-the-strange-history-vibrators

I think it's interesting how doctors were ''helping'' women to orgasm centuries ago, all under the guise of ''medical treatment'' for their...''hysteria.'' I remember when I first read about this a few years ago, and was shocked. I can't even imagine this happening today, the docs would be sued and charged with sexual assault and medical malpractice lol But a few centuries ago, the doctors' schedules were filled with hysterical women paying to get off.

So, did you all know this, already?

What I find curious about all of this too, is that it sounds like husbands (men in general?) back then didn't have a clue about how to sexually please their wives. They just had intercourse with their wives, and the wives were left frustrated. Glad I wasn't born back in that time, I might have been part of the hysterical lot, visiting the doctor every week for my 'fix.'

It's just strange to me that those women didn't guide their husbands...guide their hands, direct them more in bed. And the men didn't care if their wives had an orgasm or not? I wonder why people didn't experiment in bed more back then, just interesting to me.

 

I've heard this before. And have two comments.
One is that doctors were for the upper class. The working class couldn't afford that kind of thing.
The other thought is that "proper behavior" was another thing for the upper class. Or those trying to join the upper class or look like it.
The lower classes had and enjoyed sex as they had for centuries. But they didn't write about it (few could) or read about it (few could). "Animal desires" were a sign of being lower class. Contemporary writings is not a good guide to the diversity of life from the past. The intellectual class are the ones who wrote things down. And what they chose to write about was influenced by their experience and what they wanted others to think of them.

(Side note, Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, also wrote music. Auld Lang Sine (the New Years song) was written by him. As well as a sprightly ditty entitled "Nine Inch Will Please A Lady", the third verse of which praises either doggy position or anal sex (my Scots isn't good enough to tell which.))

The clitoris was not invented in the late 20th century. Its been around much longer than that and people knew how to use it effectively.

The erasure of sexuality from literature, conversation etc. was a product of the affectations of the upwardly mobile middle class. (The Victorian upper classes were sexually promiscuous after marriage. They didn't have to follow silly rules to be "proper", they were "proper" by birth.)

Instead of wondering why these women didn't guide their husbands, I would wonder why they didn't guide themselves.

 

Those are excellent points, Mike. I didn't know that the ''lower class'' were enjoying sex, and that sex was more oppressed in the upper class of society. And so true about why didn't the women explore their own bodies? I mean, it's not that hard to figure out what feels good, and go from there. I wonder if maybe they were just simply indoctrinated to thinking of sexual pleasure as a taboo thing, for women. Sex was also largely viewed as a tool for procreation, and the pleasure in that, was largely a byproduct or the guy. I wonder if the women felt a sense of shame for knowing that what they desired was in fact, sex, and even to self pleasure, made them feel bad. But, after going to the doc a few times, I think I'd figure things out from there and keep it my little secret. lol

 

If you were of the middle-seeking-upper-class of the time, you wore an awful lots of layers of clothing.

Heck, I don't have to look at sexual attitudes to prefer the modern age. Indoor plumbing is a sufficient reason to prefer living in the early 21st to the early 20th.

 

If you are ever in SF Good Vibrations on Polk Street has an antique vibrator museum.

C/S,
Rev J

 

I did know that, but I didn't know it was to cure hysteria.

But I did know that doctors were bringing women to orgasm under the guise of some kind of medical treatment.

Meanwhile, this is just sad...

 

It amazes me how backwards the thinking was back then on so many levels.

 

I wonder if future generations will say that about us

 

Never, because we are perfect!

 

We don't really know this. With lack of today's media, sex was hardly ever discussed, but I am sure that many couples were enjoying a fulfilling relationship. The problem was that they kept it to themselves, possibly assuming that everyone else was just as happy and fulfilled.
Today's society also has its problems, particularly with films, television and the internet causing people to have stupid expectations from their partner. I always wonder how many porn actors cannot wait to get off the bed and enjoy a cup of tea, once they have finished filming the bizarre acts in the script.
Reality is always a different matter. Watching sex in the hay turns a lot of people on, but in reality a hayrick in the fields is dripping wet below the surface and crawling with bugs. Moving on to the hayloft is little better when you take into account all the mice and rats, not to mention the cow dung and a few broken bottles among the hay.
I would love to make a spoof porn film showing the reality of what people watch in the hopes of getting 'turned on'. LMAO.

 

There are some works of literature from that time frame that do allude to women experiencing passion and pleasure, although it isnt really spelled out directly and of course the plot always involves an eventual fall from grace for the woman.

Anyways I didnt know about the vibrator as a cure for hysteria. I'm glad we dont have to see a doctor for such things anymore

 

This is true, but I can't imagine not being able to figure out that I could make myself orgasm by doing what the doctors were doing. That they even needed to go to a doctor for ''relief'' is definitely backwards to me. :blush5:

 

I somehow imagine that it was the so called upper class people who felt far to important too important to bother with mundane things like sex and sending their wives off to the doctor. Meanwhile the working class people were having all the fun. The birds, the bees and the animals seem to manage OK. Trust us humans to mess it all up..

 

It's kind of sad that sex and sexuality has caused so much scandal throughout history and that for many people, it's like a "dirty" thing, you know? Sex and feeling good from it is biological but I blame religion for causing people to have hang ups over it.