A Recent History of Sex Toys
Ξ October 23rd, 2008 | → | ∇ Sextoys Articles |
History has been both good and bad for sex toys, they’ve had periods of great, wide-spread use and periods when they were shunned or even illegal. Here I will talk about sex toys from the mid 19th century and after.
Although sex toys and any literature that related to sexuality during the Victorian Era was considered extremely taboo, this era showed a great jump forward in sex toy ‘technology’. Butt plugs, rubber dildos and even the first vibrators were introduced to us during the mid nineteenth century. Not only did new toys make it to the public but the sex toys that had been around for so long got a big boost in comfort and sanitation.
But there was a way for sex aids to be used during this time period, that was medically. One business that profited from this was the spa, there were spas that offered steam-powered vibrating products and jet massages, all under the guise of medicine.
There was an illness that was incredibly popular to diagnose during the 1800’s, but only women were affected by it and it had a treatment that led to a steep increase in sex toy usage, especially vibrators. The illness was called Hysteria, from the Greek word ‘hystera’ meaning Uterus. I won’t go into details on what caused Hysteria but I will state that pelvic massaging by doctors was the standard treatment until the invention of vibrators. This caused a rapid increase in vibrator sales and use as they were prescribed by doctors and used ‘medicinally’. And although Hysteria is no longer a recognized illness its effects on the popularity of vibrators can be easily seen.
As more and more houses got electricity, more and more women were able to get vibrators for at-home Hysteria treatment. Then as battery powered vibrators started to come about, still more women were able to get relief from that nasty Hysteria at home. During the early 1900’s you could start finding advertisements in catalogs such as Sears for vibrators, which the touted as an essential home utility. It wasn’t long before it was no longer necessary to be diagnosed with Hysteria to be able to buy yourself a vibrator.
During the era of ‘free love’, specialized retail stores and magazines started popping up, providing a wide variety of sex toys to the public. These days you can get sex toys in almost every town in America or through one of the many online retail stores.
Sex toy popularity is continually on the rise, individuals and couples alike are becoming ever more open to the idea of sex toy use. The days of the mentality of only the single and lonely using sex toys are rapidly dying off.
Role playing and light bondage, such as the use of simple nipple clamps, are also becoming ever more popular with today’s couples, raising the sales of costumes and restraining devices. So if you haven’t tried a sex toy by yourself or with your partner today is a great day to try something new!
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