The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction Revised Edition Contributor(s): Maines, Rachel P. (Author) |
|
![]() |
ISBN: 0801866464 ISBN-13: 9780801866463 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press OUR PRICE: $25.65 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: June 2001 Annotation: 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. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Women's Studies - Psychology | Human Sexuality (see Also Social Science - Human Sexuality) - Medical | History |
Dewey: 306.708 |
Series: Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology |
Physical Information: 0.45" H x 5.54" W x 8.49" (0.54 lbs) 208 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Maines, Rachel P.: - Rachel P. Maines is a visiting scholar in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University and author of The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction, also published by Johns Hopkins. |