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25 Local Warehouse Gender Studies- Womens Studies

This title in other formats:

The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction

by Rachel P. Maines

The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction Cover

Awards

Winner of the American Historical Association's Herbert Feis Prize.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"Thorough, original, and surprising." Sarah Boxer, New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Rachel Maines's book is full of wonderful descriptions of the 'job nobody wanted,' including photographs of early vibrators and vaginal electrodes." Jeanette Winterson, Times (London)

Review:

"Feminist scholarship exactly as it should be: a work that not only illuminates an astonishing bit of herstory, but does so with a neat balance of anger, wit and humor... A wonderful book." Carol Lynn Mithers, L.A. Weekly

Review:

"Exhaustively researched... decidedly offbeat." Natalie Angier, New York Times

Review:

"Here's a provocative history with a chip on its shoulder and a buzz under its skirt... Exhumes startling facts from the underground sexual history of the early twentieth century." Will Blythe, Mirabella

Review:

"Maines has produced an exhaustive and deliciously savage history of the vibrator-as-sex-aid... This fascinating and exquisitely referenced true story reads like twisted science fiction." Library Journal

Review:

"A titillating and often hilarious account of the rise and fall (as it were) of the vibrator as a medical tool for the treatment of hysteria... A book that can delight as well as enlighten." Anna Myers, Journal of the American Medical Association

Synopsis:

From the time of Hippocrates until the 1920s, massaging female patients to orgasm was a staple of western medical practice. This is an account of hysteria and its treatment through the ages, focusing on the development, use and fall into disrepute of the vibrator as a legitimate medical device.

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.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780801866463
Subtitle:
Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction
Author:
Maines, Rachel P.
Publisher:
Johns Hopkins University Press
Subject:
General
Subject:
Women
Subject:
Women's Studies
Subject:
History
Subject:
Human Sexuality
Subject:
Women's Studies - General
Publication Date:
March 2001
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
208
Dimensions:
8.49x5.54x.45 in. .54 lbs.

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