Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction (Revised)

Winner of the Herbert Feis Prize from the American Historical Association Winner of the AFGAGMAS Biennial Book AwardWinner of the Science Award from the American Foundation for Gender and Genital Medicine

From the time of Hippocrates until the 1920s, massaging female patients to orgasm was a staple of medical practice among Western physicians in the treatment of hysteria, an ailment once considered both common and chronic in women. Doctors loathed this time-consuming procedure and for centuries relied on midwives. Later, they substituted the efficiency of mechanical devices, including the electric vibrator, invented in the 1880s. In The Technology of Orgasm, Rachel Maines offers readers a stimulating, surprising, and often humorous account of hysteria and its treatment throughout the ages, focusing on the development, use, and fall into disrepute of the vibrator as a legitimate medical device.

Author: Rachel P. Maines
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 06/01/2001
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.54lbs
Size: 8.49h x 5.54w x 0.45d
ISBN: 9780801866463

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 07/22/2001 pg. 28

About the Author

Rachel P. Maines is an independent scholar and a technical processing assistant at Cornell University's Hotel School Library. She is also the author of numerous articles in scholarly and popular publications.