Along with
the light bulb, the advent of electricity in the late 1800'sbrought about so many new
inventions formulated
on the fertile soil of creative imaginations. This flood of ingenious
devices
ushered in new ideas for conveniences from every profession, including
doctors,
who concocted all sorts of electrically driven machines and gadgets.
One such
gadget continues to evolve over one hundred years later. It is the
vibrator.
The
concept, accidentally created like many “brilliant” inventions, was for
a
mechanized massage apparatus to stimulate the scalp, thus inducing hair
growth
for balding men. Of course, being of the Victorian era, it was rather
ironic
how quickly this device was augmented for use as a medical instrument,
treating
women of the day for their various symptoms and illnesses.
As
most medical doctors believed at the time, a woman’s reproductive
system was
the root cause of a condition they named, "hysteria". Symptoms of the
medically deemed,
“hysterical paroxysms” included
almost
every natural anatomical reaction of the female human body, including,
but not
limited to, nervousness, fainting spells (strangely, the learned
doctors never thought to
blame
this particular symptom on tightly laced corsets that were worn for
8-10 hours a day),
insomnia,
abdominal pains (usually these were just the standard menstrual cycle
cramps or again, maybe the tight corsets?), excessive
vaginal secretions, insufficient vaginal secretions, and so on and so
on. The
common thought was that the build up of unreleased “female semen”
during orgasms
would decay and grow toxic in the bloodstream. The prescription written
for married
women for this “hysteria” was to release the “female semen” by having
more sex with
her husband.
However,
the prescription for the unmarried women, widows and “spinsters” was
visits to
the doctor who performed a clinical massage of the clitoris by hand to
release
the “female semen”. Obviously, this was an embarrassing and
often tiresome task, until the electric
“massager”
came along. Soon, every well equipped gynecological office and woman’s
health clinic
had electric powered vibrating devices designed exclusively for
stimulation of
female genitals. Once the word was out about this great new,
electrically
assisted “cure”, the ladies lined up for their monthly
“treatment”.
By
early 1900’s a battery powered vibrator was invented, and the rest, as
they
say, is history! More
and more physicians developed contraptions intended to serve
as vibrators. Articles and textbooks on vibratory massage technique
praised the
machine's versatility for treating nearly all diseases in both sexes
and saving
physicians time and labor (achieving an orgasm by “hand” often took the
physician
an hour, whereas with the vibrator it was only 10 minutes!).
1920's "Home Version" Electric Vibrator
[note: still called a "vibrator" at this point, not
"massager"]
Then,
with the development of "home versions" (originally designed by
physicians for “house calls”) of the vibrators, advertisements began to
appear in
magazines like Needlecraft, Woman's Home Companion, Modern Priscilla
and in the
Sears & Roebuck catalog, with tag lines like: "...all the pleasures
of
youth will throb within you!"
But
by the late 1920’s, advertising of vibrators for personal use ceased
thanks,
in part,
to their new use as a “prop” in the new burgeoning realm of stag films.
By this time,
physicians (and
their patients’ husbands) finally realized that a forced orgasm was not
a "cure
all", so the vibrator's era as a medical appliance waned into the
decades of
hidden and secretive personal erotic vibrator usage. For nearly forty
years thereafter, electric vibrators thrived “under cover” as massage
tools or physical therapy devices.
Then,
in the early 60's, it
re-emerged as a sex-aid
toy sold in Adult Toy Shops as a “novelty” item. For the last thirty to
forty
years, since then, the vibrator has evolved and grown to mind boggling
variations, from its earlier, poorer quality battery operated hand held
phallic
designs to the current day sophisticated remote control devices with
multiple
attachments.
Some vibrators now work with any mp3 player or cell phone!
In
2010, vibrators are now considered mainstream, discussed,
demonstrated and advertised freely in the media. It seems like there
isn’t a
television series that hasn’t at least mentioned the name of vibrators,
like
the “Rabbit” or the “Magic Wand”. Virginia Slims Cigarettes’
1968 ad
campaign stated, “We’ve come a long way, Baby!” and now, over forty
years
later,
that statement holds truth for the vibrator (in more ways than one!).
Fertility
Festivals of Japan honor Penis and Vaginas
Hoenen Matsuri is
Japanese for "Harvest Festival" which is a fertility festival
celebrated every year on March 15 in Japan. The Hōnen festival and
ceremony celebrate the blessings of a bountiful harvest and all manner
of prosperity and fertility.
The best known of
these festivals takes place in the town of Komaki, just north of Nagoya
City. The festival's main features are Shinto priests playing musical
instruments, a parade of ceremonially garbed participants,
all-you-can-drink sake, and a 280 kg (620 pound), 2.5 meter (96
inch)-long wooden phallus.
The giant
wooden penis is carried from a shrine called Shinmei Sha (in
even-numbered years) on a large hill or from Kumano-sha Shrine (in
odd-numbered years), to a shrine called Tagata Jinja.
The festival starts
with celebration and preparation at 10:00 a.m. at Tagata Jinja, where
all sorts of foods and souvenirs (mostly phallus-shaped or related) are
sold. Sake is also passed out freely from large wooden barrels. At
about 2:00 p.m. everyone gathers at Shinmei Sha for the start of the
procession. Shinto priests say prayers and impart blessings on the
participants and mikoshi, as well as on the large wooden phallus, which
are to be carried along the parade route.
When the procession
makes its way down to Tagata Jinja the phallus in its mikoshi is spun
furiously before it is set down and more prayers are said. Everyone
then gathers in the square outside Tagata Jinja and waits for the mochi
nage, at which time the crowd is showered with small rice cakes which
are thrown down by the officials from raised platforms.
The Torii
Shrine gate above displays the ends of the
crosspiece are penis shaped shaped and in the center is a vagina with
open legs.
Hoto Shrine (above) Hoto is an old Japanese
word for vagina. The basis of the shrine is in the most famous of all
Japanese myths, the story of Iwato, when Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess,
hid herself away in a cave.
All the other Gods gathered outside the cave trying to get her to come
back out and bring light to the world but to no
avail, until a Goddess named Uzume performed a shamanic dance which
culminated with her exposing her genitals. At this all the other Gods
roared
with laughter, which stirred Amaterasu's curiosity, so she peeked out
of the cave to see what the commotion was about and the Gods grabbed
her and pulled her back out into the world.
So, according to the myth, we owe the world of
light and life as we know it, to the vagina.
Above, another "rock vagina" that has
become a shrine. Near this shrine is a Penis shrine said to have
special qualities for curing
Penile Dysfunction.
In several
regions of the African nation of Cameroon, parents try to keep maturing
daughters off the market by "ironing" their breasts (pressing them with
heated stones and leaves to make them flatter and the girls thus less
desirable for sex). The practice reached world media (and News of the
Weird) in 2006 as part of a condemnation campaign by the United
Nations, but apparently it continues unabated, according to new videos
circulated this year and described in The Washington Post in March.
According to that writer, who interviewed numerous health officials in
Cameroon, the practice apparently has little effect, in that the
teenage pregnancy rate remains very high. [Washington Post, 3-4-10]
In
Cincinnati in August, Colondra Hamilton, 32, was arrested after a
routine traffic stop. Officers said they found Hamilton with her pants
unbuttoned, a sex toy in her lap, and a computer playing a video in the
passenger seat. [WCPO-TV (Cincinnati), 8-24-10]
.
click
for larger image Magic
Wand Vibrator
For over 30 years,
the Hitachi Magic Wand has set the standard for personal
hand-held massagers and vibrators. The soft spherical head gives a
soothing
massage, operated by a two speed switch located on the Wand's slender
handle.
Unlike cordless style massagers and vibrators, the Magic Wand's strong
electric motor is powered using a standard electric cord and plug,
providing
a constant power source for those extended sessions. It has, by far,
the
strongest vibrations and because it plugs into the wall, you don't have
to worry that it will die out just when you need it most!
