The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction (review)

The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction by Rachel P. Maines. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, 181 pp., $22.00 hardcover.

The history of sex is a fascinating topic, and the book, The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction, by Rachel P. Maines, has the potential to radically shift our normative model of sex. This extremely well-documented, extraordinarily engrossing, and highly readable book is about the history of the female orgasm. Maines has synthesized more than 500 sources to support her argument that ". . . the medicalizing of female orgasm in Western culture has been one means of protecting our comfortable illusions about coitus" (121). The illusion is that the male model of sex--foreplay, penetration, and male ejaculation--is good for women, as well as for men. The reality is that it generally fails to produce orgasm in women, and as a result, a series of women's sexual complaints, such as hysteria, have emerged. The book begins with an introduction to the genital massage of women to orgasm as one medical treatment for hysteria, a practice performed by practitioners under the paradigm that classified a women's inability to have an orgasm during coitus as a disorder.

Chapter two gives a history of hysteria, noting the etymology of the term is the Greek word for uterus. Although the definition of the disorder has shifted over the years, it has always connected the feminine with the irrational. Maines traces this changing definition. For example, she notes that Galen (129-200) thought that hysteria was a result of sexual deprivation of women; whereas Avicenna (980-1037) postulated that unsatisfactory intercourse was one of its causes. Maines details the ways in which these ideas of sexual deprivation and frustration continued basically unchanged until Freud, who considered childhood trauma the cause of hysteria. In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association finally dropped the disorder from its taxonomy. However, at no time during the 2,500-year history of the disorder did practitioners question the androcentric model of sex. That happened only recently with the work of Alfred Kinsey for example.

Chapter three continues the history of women's sexuality by focusing on the ways in which physicians have explained the differences in male and female orgasmic experiences. Maines discusses a number of the contradictory explanations for anorgasmia and its consequences. For instance, in the seventeenth century, a woman's inability to reach orgasm was considered unhealthy for the balance of humors in the body. By contrast, in the nineteenth century, this inability supported the belief that women are less sexual and thus purer than men. Since women can easily experience orgasm by masturbating, the book looks at the ways in which masturbation by women was also pathologized.

Chapter four describes a variety of medical solutions to women's sexual complaints, focusing on gynecological massage. At no time did physicians enjoy administering this treatment. Rather, they tended to relegate the task to semi-professionals such as midwives; rely on mechanical devices such as the electric douche; or prescribe adjunct treatments such as bathing in a spa. Thus, the commercial development of electricity in the nineteenth century set the stage for the invention of the vibrator. She argues that the vibrator originally was designed as a medical device for treating women since therapeutic massage was time-consuming and labor-intensive for practitioners. At first, the device was only medical, but after 1900, it went public. Maines found that magazines such as Modern Women and Women's Home Companion ran advertisements for vibrators, and mail order catalogues such as J. J. Duck Company sold vibrators as standard consumer items. She provides an illustration from a 1918 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogue. Under the heading "Aids that every woman appreciates" appears an advertisement for a variety of household items, including sewing machines, mixers, fans, and portable...