I first learned about the invention of the vibrator through watching a documentary produced by Channel 4 or 5. I can’t remember which one.
I do know it’s probably one of those, though, because they tend to show explicit documentaries you definitely wouldn’t see on the BBC or ITV (I’m UK based if you hadn’t realised).
Anyway.
As my memory goes, the documentary zooms back to the Victorian times. It focused on how women might sound hysterical during sex, as if possessed. That they may be coming down with the asylum-prescribed ‘hysteria’.
Let’s explore more now about how the vibrator was created. To do this, we need to delve into our history.
A doctor was able to cure these poor women by touching certain parts of the woman’s body, expelling the demons inside her.
Therapy started with pelvic massages. Physicians used their hands to massage certain parts of the female body. This was labour-intensive.
This therapy became so popular with women and their husbands, that eventually, a mechanised way of expelling those demons inside these poor, poor women was created.
Low-and-behold, a Victorian doctor came up with a wonderful cure.
Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville, an English physician, is credited with inventing the first electromechanical vibrator in the early 1880s.
His device, known as the “Granville’s hammer,” was initially intended to relieve muscle and joint pain and was not designed for pelvic massages.
However, the medical community quickly adapted it for treating hysteria due to its effectiveness in inducing orgasms without the manual effort required from doctors.
I decided to research when vibrators were referenced in popular media in the ‘90s. When I was becoming a teenager.
Turns out, Sex in the City talks about The Rabbit in 1998 in one of their episodes, as well as glass dildos and The Magic Wand Vibrator.
I was only ten at this point.
I bought my first dildo at seventeen in 2005. I didn’t even know vibrators were a thing at age seventeen.
The vibrator scene has exploded since this point.
Men no longer have to use a flipping vacuum to get sucked off and orgasm.
Women no longer have to pummel their vagina with a carrot or hairbrush thinking it’ll cause an orgasm.
The history of the vibrator is a testament to the changing societal attitudes toward sexuality and women’s health. Vibrators no longer carry shame.
In fact, most men enjoy the addition of toys to their sexual experience, with their female partners involved.
As a sex worker, I’ve most definitely noticed this change. It is 100% welcome.
Let me know your thoughts!
Ta ra
Lexi Rose
Xx
