Jan 24 2015

Toys

Published by

What You Need to Know About Sex Toys

  • Most sex toys are dildos or vibrators
  • A dildo is not able to move or vibrate by itself
  • A vibrator can move or vibrate by itself
  • The oldest sex toy found is around 30 000 years old. It is a polished stone object carved to look like a penis
  • In 54 BC Queen Cleopatra is likely the first known user of a vibrator
  • In 5 BC, the Greeks were selling wooden dildos with leather strap-on harnesses in harbor cities
  • In Alabama it is still illegal to buy or sell sex toys
  • 44% of women in the USA used vibrators
  • Women in a relationship use vibrators at twice the rate single women do

 

The History of Hysteria and the Development of Sex Toys for Woman

While we would like to think that Eve found something in the Garden of Eden to help her get off while Adam wandered the garden, it is probably not true. Ancient men and women lived a subsistence life, often fighting to just stay alive. Early humans spent most of their time  fighting off illness, starvation, predators and enemies.

Sexual self stimulation was probably far from their minds, except for the idle rich women. Men and women also lived substantially shorter lives because of illness and medical conditions. Women often died during childbirth. This does not mean that women did not look after themselves sexually, but we do not get any description on how they handled it. It is almost guaranteed that they took care of themselves. Most likely using their hands and fingers.

Through history we learn of an ‘illness’ that inflicted women throughout the ages. This illness was called “hysteria”. Its symptoms were faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and “a tendency to cause trouble”. The earliest documented cases of hysteria can found in gynecological treatises of the Hippocratic corpus, which date from the 5th and 4th centuries B.C..

The treatment of hysteria was for the doctor, nurse or midwife to massage the woman’s genitals with oil until the symptoms was relieved in a “hysterical paroxysm”. Any woman or girl that have rubbed their own genitals with (or without) oil will immediately know that the “hysterical paroxysm” is nothing other than an orgasm.

Quite strangely, once a woman got treated for hysteria, she seemed to develop the illness more and more frequently, returning to the doctor’s office for “treatment”, or having the doctor make a house call to “treat” her.

The earliest descriptions of hysteria in medical documents are from as early as 2000 B.C. in Egypt. Around 500 B.C. it became well defined and described in Western medical journals such as the Hippocratic corpus. Hysteria was defined as  a disease of the womb, treatable with exercise and massage. Plato defined it as  a disease caused by the uterus, “an animal inside an animal”.

By the 1st century A.D., passive genital massage and exercise were the standard treatment for hysteria. By 200 A.D. it was realized that hysteria was caused by sexual deprivation to which passionate women is particularly susceptible.

The strange thing is that the doctors (which were almost all men) throughout the years managed to document women’s orgasms accurately, while not realizing what it was. They described the rapid breathing,  body spasms, flushing, contractions, involuntary movements, vocalization, the swelling of the vulva, vagina and clitoris and the expulsion of fluid. It was all blamed on the uterus traveling throughout the woman’s body as Plato described it. They did however prescribe marriage and intercourse as a cure.

In these descriptions in medical texts, we also see the evidence of female ejaculation (the real type, not the porn type). “… and lastly som moisture  floweth from the secret parts with a certain tickling pleasure; but in some women, as in those especially in whom the neck of the womb is tickled with the Midwive’s finger, in stead of that moisture com’s thick and gross seed, …” Ambroise Parle (1517 – 1590)

From the 1700’s it became clear from the medical literature that doctors realized that hysteria was caused by sexual frustration that can be cured by a husband. Unfortunately they lost their marbles and thought that masturbation was the other cause of hysteria.

In the mid 1800’s, it became a real problem for doctors. Young women, neglected wives, nuns and spinsters were filling up doctor’s waiting rooms waiting to be relieved from their hysteria. By the late 1600’s the famous physician already estimated that 17% of all the cases he saw were hysteria cases. Doctors realized that they can outsource this pesky task of fingering women to orgasm to their assistants, nurses in mid-wives. Although very profitable, this soon got boring for everybody.

From the early 1800’s water therapy was already used to treat hysteria and by the mid-1800’s it was in common uses at resorts across the world. This was especially true for the hot springs resorts. Bath in the UK was especially well known for their women’s treatment. As early as 400 A.D.  Saint Jerome admonished women, especially young women, to avoid bathing since it “stirred up passions better left alone” . Bathing in this sense does not indicate the normal daily cleaning ritual but time spent in hot water and therapeutic baths. By the late 1700’s, specialized hydrotherapeutic devices for women were already developed. In 1752 it was remarked that Bath already had a number of hydriatic devices designed especially for women. Many spas had special “female departments” with women playing a major role in the ownership, management and treatment at these resorts. These spas also added other mechanical and electromechanical massage devices for its female clientele as soon as it became available.

By 1875, C Bigelow noted that coitus interruptus (pull-out) was a big cause for hysteria. He also described how every physician from a large practice has a circle of ‘everlasting patients’ whom he visits and prescribes for once a week, on average for years.

By 1880 we have moved into the ‘electrical shock can cure everything’ phase. Vaginal probes was made to apply electric shock to the genitals. Even though mainstream medicine decided that this was not working by the late 1880’s, it took until 1910 to die out. It did not cure hysteria except perhaps by scaring the woman so much that they did not dare to go for treatment. For once the treatment was worse than the ‘illness’.

In the 1890’s the first electromechanical vibrator was invented in Britain. Electric vibrators were introduced to give doctors, nurses and midwives a break from the tedious task of stimulating patients to orgasm. It reduced the time for a hysterical treatment from about 60 minutes to around 5 minutes.

By 1902, the first vibrators for in home use got patented and adds in shopping catalogs started to appear. Women could buy a vibrator for as little as the cost of two doctor’s visits.

By 1920, these vibrators started appearing in stag films of that era. This made it quite clear to everybody that cared to look that hysteria was nothing more than a woman getting horny, and that the treatment was masturbating the woman to give her an orgasm. Vibrators started disappearing from doctors offices. This caused the vibrator ads to disappear, as no reputable store wanted to advertise sex toys with other household items like kettles, stoves, mixers and cloths irons. More and more women became familiar with these devices and opted for self-treatment at home.

In 1952, hysteria (or ‘hysteroneurasthenic diseases’ as it was known) was officially removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s Mental Disorder Diagnostic Guide. The men of the world finally figured out that “hysteria” was a “disease” that women could take care of themselves. They were however too ashamed of coming out and advertising these devices  from around 1900 home vibrators was advertised in publications like Needlecraft, Home Needlework Journal, Modern Women, Hearst’s, McClure’s, Woman’s Home Companion and Modern Priscilla as health and relaxation aids with slogans like “all the pleasures of youth will throb inside of you”. When marketed to men it was as a givt for the women in their licves to restore the “pink cheeks and bright eyes of their loved ones. The vibrators were advertised with other home appliences like washing machines, mixers and toasters. One vibrator even used the motor from the mixer to drive the vibrator.

By 1960 all the medical references have all but disappeared in marketing material and by the 1970’s they were called “sex aids”. The ability to give a woman a glorious orgasm became a selling point and not something that were hidden or hinted at.

Sex toys can be divided into certain categories:

Where you use them – Clitoral, vaginal and anal, internal or external

Where you can use it – In water or dry

Where it gets its power from – Manual, batteries, electricity or mechanical.

Use – Single or with a partner

Size – Hand held, worn or machine

 

Dildos, Vibrators, Strap-Ons and Fucking Machines

Dildos: A toy that does not have any mechanical parts or its own power. It is operated by hand by rubbing it over the vulva and clitoris or pushing it into the vagina. Some dildos can also be used as anal toys and some vibrators can also be used as a dildos. At its simplest, it can be piece of smooth wood, polished glass, smooth metal or plastic. Many young girls will start out by using a hair brush handle or a tooth brush handle or a pen.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Dildo_PICT3774_small.jpg

Glass Dildo (CommonismNow Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

image

(Author: EvaK Creative Common)

Vibrator: A toy that does have mechanical parts and it needs winding up, batteries or electricity.

image

Electric Massager (Author: Wetfinder Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

image

Masturbation with a vibrator (Author: Wetfinder Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

Strap-on Dildo

A strap-on is used to give a woman the ability to penetrate her partner to emulate intercourse as a male

image

Strap-on Usage on a Man (public domain)

Some strap-on harnesses also have place for optional dildos meant for the woman. These dildos can be withed vaginal or anal and the movenment of these dildos while she simulate intercourse with her partner can cause explosive orgasms.

image

Strap-on with anal and vaginal dildos for the wearer (GNU Free Documentation License)

Fucking Machine: An elaborate mechanical or electrical machine that stimulate the female.  These machines are normally expensive, big and noisy.

Anal Toys: Using normal sex toys for anal stimulation is very dangerous. These toys can slip into the rectum and imbed themselves deep inside you. Anal toys have a collar that prevent then from disappearing up your behind. If you do not want to end up in the emergency room trying to explain to the staff there what is vibrating in your intestines, DO NOT INSERT NORMAL SEX TOYS INTO YOUR ANUS.

image

Anal toy with rim to prevent it from slipping into the anus and rectum (GNU Free Documentation License)

Battery, Electricity or Both

The very first vibrators were driven by electricity. As battery technology became better, batteries started driving vibrators. Batteries can be inside the instrument or in an external battery compartment that is connected to the vibrator with the power cable. Today the high quality vibrators are made with rechargeable batteries. Some of them can be used with the power cords plugged in and others live in little powered cradles where they are always ready to spring into action.

It can be a really be a downer to run out of battery power just when you need it most. This does not mean that battery vibrators are bad. Just take care and know when to replace the batteries.

In general the electrical vibrators are stronger than the battery vibrators. The electrical vibrators are also mostly larger and more like common massagers. The common massager type vibrators are also more inconspicuous and more easily explained when found. These massagers can be bought from BrookStone, CVS, Walmart, Sears, Target and many other common stores.

Clitoris, Vagina, G-Spot or Anus

A clitoral vibrator is normally wider to distribute the vibrations across the vulva.

An anal toy has a wide base to prevent it from slipping into the anus and disappearing into the rectum. There are few things as embarrassing as arriving at the emergency room with a sex toy in your rectum. Anal toys are normally not vibrators.

A G-Spot toy is normally curved and have an enlarged head. It can be either a dildo or a vibrator.

Vaginal toys can also be used as G-Spot toys. They normally looks like a penis or are straight test tube like instruments.

In the bath, In the shower, on the sink

Some toys can be used under water (like in the bath). Obviously the electrical toys can not be used for this. Some toys are splash proof so it can be used in the shower or washed in running water. Most toys should not be immersed or splashed with water.

Fucking Machines

These machines are large electromechanical machines that have large engines, flywheels, gears, arms and pistons to try to emulate intercourse with a man. Normally these machines have replaceable dildos at the end that enters the woman. These machines often use an electrical drill as the engine.

Materials

Vibrators and dildos can be made from glass, acrylic, wood, metal, plastic, silicone

Reference:

Prevalence and Characteristics of Vibrator Use by Women in the United States: Results from a Nationally Representative Study by Debra Herbenick, PhD, MPH,* Michael Reece, PhD, MPH,* Stephanie Sanders, PhD, Brian Dodge, PhD,* Annahita Ghassemi, PhD, and J. Dennis Fortenberry, MD, MS

The Technology of Orgasm: “Hysteria,” the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction by Rachel P. Maines, Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (March 1, 2001) ISBN-10: 0801866464 ISBN-13: 978-0801866463

Female Hysteria – Wikipedia

Antique Vibrator and Quack Medical Museum Pictures of Antique Vibrators

Fucking Machines Large Electromechanical Sex Machines (Age Restriction: 18)

Liberator Shapes Sex Furniture

Sybian Sex Machine

My Love Machine Large Electromechanical Sex Machines (Age Restriction: 18)

JeTaime Fucking Machine

MonkeyRocker Manual Sex Machine

The Sex Machine Diaries

TeleDildonics

Wikipedia – Teledildonics in Wikipedia

OpenDildonics Wiki

The Dream Love Chair

This page has the following sub pages.

Comments Off on Toys