Vibrator (sex toy)
Some luxury brand vibrators are also completely covered in medical grade silicone with no exposed control panels or seams.
Although proper cleaning is required for any sex toy,[5] having fewer places for bacteria to grow reduces the chance of infection.
Some vibrators, designed to be discreet, are shaped as everyday objects, such as lipstick tubes, cell phones, or art pieces.
The electric vibrator was invented in the late 19th century as a medical instrument for pain relief and the treatment of various ailments, marketed for decades without any sexual connotations, for example to be used against the skin for wrinkles, the scalp for headaches, or the stomach for indigestion.
English physician and inventor Joseph Mortimer Granville, who also developed an early model, asserted his own priority in the invention and has been described as the "father of the modern electromechanical vibrator".
[14] These early vibrators became popular among the medical profession and were used for treating a wide variety of ailments in women and men including hysteria, arthritis, constipation, amenorrhea, inflammations, and tumors; some wounded World War I soldiers received vibrotherapy as treatment at English and French hospitals in Serbia.
An early example was the "Vibratile", an advert which appeared in McClure's magazine in March 1899, offered as a cure for "Neuralgia, Headache, Wrinkles".
Historian of technology Rachel Maines, in her book The Technology of Orgasm,[20] has argued that the development of the vibrator in the late 19th century was in large part due to the requirements of doctors for an easier way to perform genital massage on women, often to "hysterical paroxysm" (orgasm), which was historically a treatment for the once common medical diagnosis of female hysteria.
Maines writes that this treatment had been recommended since classical antiquity in Europe, including in the Hippocratic corpus and by Galen, and continued to be used into the medieval and modern periods,[21] but was not seen as sexual by physicians due to the absence of penetration,[22] and was viewed by them as a difficult and tedious task.
[24] One example of suggestive advertising given is a 1908 advert in National Home Journal for the Bebout hand-powered mechanical vibrator, containing the text "Gentle, soothing, invigorating and refreshing.
[29] In 2018, Hallie Lieberman and Eric Schatzberg published a peer-reviewed article that found "no evidence" to support Maines's claims in the book's citations.
[32] The cordless vibrator was patented on March 28, 1968, and was soon followed by such improvements as multi-speed and one-piece construction, which made it cheaper to manufacture and easier to clean.
[33] In 2017 Lynn Comella, associate professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, noted that "sex toy packaging... has been replaced by softer and more sanitised imagery... it's now possible to buy a vibrator at many neighbourhood Walgreens".
[35] Research published in a 2009 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine demonstrates that about 53% of women in the United States ages 18 to 60 have used a vibrator.
[48] This raising interest resulted in vibrators being more mainstream and have better representation in popular culture opening up the conversation on women's pleasure.
[49] Until recently, many American Southern and some Great Plains states banned the sale of vibrators completely, either directly or through laws regulating "obscene devices".
Recent studies show that a majority of men who personally identified themselves as gay or bisexual indicated that they have used at least one type of sex toy in sexual relationships as well as individually, with 49.6% of them having used a vibrator.
Newly invented vibrators such as the POPDildo[59] cater to queer, transgender, and disabled people, as well as those experiencing erectile dysfunction or serodiscordant couples who may need help conceiving.
[60] Physicians can offer advice on proper vibrator care and use, including sex counselors, OBGYNs[clarification needed], urologists, oncologists, and specialists in conditions leading to sexual dysfunction.
Appearing in a regular segment on the popular US television series The Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2009,[64] Dr. Laura Berman recommended that mothers teach their 15- or 16-year-old daughters the concept of pleasure by getting them a clitoral vibrator.
Today, CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, Safeway, Target and Walmart are among major national US chain retailers that include vibrators on store shelves.
In season one of Mad Men, Peggy Olson is assigned to work on the marketing campaign for a type of vibrating underwear[67] intended to help the user lose weight called the Electrosizer, which she later renamed the Rejuvinator.
