Awards

• Winner of Biennial Book Award 1999 (United States)
• Winner of Herbert Feis Award 1999 (United States)
• Winner of Herbert Feis Award 1999.
• Winner of Science Award 1999 (United States)

Overview

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 this text, Rachel Maines offers readers a 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rachel P. Maines (Cornell University)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Edition:   New edition
Volume:   24
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.249kg
ISBN:  

9780801866463

ISBN 10:   0801866464
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   10 August 2001
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Contents: Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1 THE JOB NOBODY WANTED The Androcentric Model of Sexuality Hysteria as a Disease Paradigm The Evolution of the Technology Chapter 2 FEMALE SEXUALITY AS HYSTERICAL PATHOLOGY Hysteria in Antiquity and the Middle Ages Hysteria in Renaissance Medicine The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries The Freudian Revolution and Its Aftermath Chapter 3 ""MY GOD, WHAT DOES SHE WANT?"" Physicians and the Female Orgasm Masturbation ""Frigidity"" and Anorgasmia Female Orgasm in the Post-Freudian World What Ought to Be, and What We'd Like to Believe Chapter 4 ""INVITING THE JUICES DOWNWARD"" Hydropathy and Hydrotherapy Electrotherapeutics Mechanical Massagers and Vibrators Instrumental Prestige in the Vibratory Operating Room Consumer Purchase of Vibrators after 1900 Chapter 5 REVISING THE ANDROCENTRIC MODEL Orgasmic Treatment in the Practice of Western Medicine The Androcentric Model in Heterosexual Relationships The Vibrator as Technology and Totem Notes Notes on Sources Index"

Reviews

<p> 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. -- Journal of the American Medical Association

Author Information

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.

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