Abstract
In the course of the mid to late 20th and 21st centuries the term "vibrator" has been synonymous with sexual gratification and the female sex drive. However, its original usage is more in line with a therapeutic medical treatment administered and recommended by medical professionals. In this article the history of the vibrator discusses the roots of medicines views on the female body and the ways in which their ailments were treated, with medicine not fully understanding the female sexual gratification of clitoral stimulation until the 1920s. These previous decades are colored by ancient understandings of the female sex and their bodily functions, ultimately culminating in the creation and implementation of the vibrator to relieve various feminine health issues, most prominently hysteria.
Recommended Citation
Gardner, Lauren E.. "Medicinal Vibrations." The Purdue Historian 11, 1 (2023). https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/puhistorian/vol11/iss1/8
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