The history of the vibrator

First aired on The Current (6/9/11)

The film Hysteria, which is centred around the invention of the vibrator, is expected to create buzz when it debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival next week. It may be the buzziest exploration of the vibrator, but it's not the first. Rachel Maines, a visiting scholar of science and technology studies at Cornell University, is the author of the book The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction.

The concept of hysteria dates further back than the 19th-century setting of Hysteria, all the way to 450 BC in Greece. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, defined hysteria as "the revolt of the uterus against neglect," Maines explained to The Current host Anna Maria Tremonti in a recent interview. At the time, uterus was a catch-all term for the female sex organs and Hippocrates believed that "in order to make it feel better you had to give it some attention through massage and fragrant oils."

Over the centuries, the definition of hysteria evolved and more symptoms were catalogued under this condition. By the time the vibrator was invented in 1883, symptoms included "sleeplessness, anxiety, kvetching, nagging your husband" as well as "vaginal lubrication and sexual fantasy," Maines reports. In other words, pretty much anything a woman did or felt could be classified as hysteria.

It took nearly 100 years for the vibrator to move from its position as a medical tool to its current status today as a symbol of female sexuality. Slowly but surely, ads for vibrators began to appear in catalogues for women and the devices were sold in stores. In the 1920s, the vibrator made its first appearance in pornography. "[Doctors] were outraged," Maines said. "They thought this was an encroachment on medical practice."

The 1953 Kinsey Reports aided in bringing the conversation about female sexuality to the forefront and the feminist movement of the 1970s embraced the vibrator as a symbol of female sexuality and the freedom women deserved to explore it. Now, the production and sale of vibrators is a very lucrative business: they come in hundreds of shapes, colours, sizes and styles, and make appearances in films and television shows. In fact, Maines says that one in four American households owns at least one.

It's come a long way since 1884. See for yourself by watching the Hysteria trailer below.