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Starting in the first century A.D., doctors manually massaged women to orgasm in hopes of purging them of a mysterious illness. "God-fearing physicians," as Zacuto expressed it in the 17th century, were expected to induce the paroxysm with their own fingers only when absolutely necessary. This was case for young single women, widows and nuns. The first vibrator was invented in the 1880's by a British physician as a way to more quickly and effectively perform a therapeutic massage as treatment for hysteria in women. When portable vibrators powered by line electricity became available at the turn of the 20th century. Vibrators were actually advertised in the Sears and Roebuck catalogs as late as 1918. They quickly became the dominant medical massage technology until the appearance of vibrators in erotic films in the 1920s. This quickly eroded the instrument's social camouflage. |
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