A brief history of the vibrator

Vibrators are popular: more than 52% of women in the United States have used one, and many men use them as well (1-3). But where did they come from?

You may have heard the story of how a doctor invented the vibrator to treat hysteria. Sorry to kill your buzz, but that’s not quite how it happened. There are many myths and misinformation surrounding the history of vibrators in the West, starting with Cleopatra.

Did Cleopatra invent the vibrator? Not quite.

In her 1992 Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices, Brenda Love claimed that Cleopatra (69-30 BC) used a gourd filled with bees to stimulate her genitals, similar to a vibrator (4). This idea has been repeated and reprinted in many popular stories about vibrators. Historian Helen King says there is no evidence that this actually happened. Love’s book cites no sources, and there are no ancient writings or archaeological finds mentioning Cleopatra’s supposed invention.

Many links have been made between vibrators and the diagnosis of “hysteria.” The term comes from the Greek hysterika, meaning uterus. In the 6th century BC, a Greek physician named Aretaeus theorized that the uterus could move freely around a woman’s body, leading to poor physical and mental health (5). Since then, the term “hysteria” has been used to describe a multitude of ailments, particularly among women, from aggression to fainting, nymphomania and farting (6).

1800s: “manipulators”, “circulators” and the myth of medical masturbation

A thousand years (and some years) brings us to a popular idea in the history of vibrators: They were invented by Western doctors in the 19th century and used to masturbate hysterical women.

In the 1800s, industrialization transformed many aspects of life, including medicine. English physician Joseph Mortimer Granville invented an electric vibrator in 1883, although similar machines, such as Dr. George Taylor’s “Manipulator” steam table massager, were already in use in France and the United States.

If Granville looks familiar to you, you probably know him as the sexy doctor in the 2011 film “Hysteria.” Unfortunately, the film — based on Rachel Maines’ 1998 book, “The Technology of Orgasm” — is somewhat inventive with the facts (7). Maines herself admits it.

“People loved my hypothesis and that’s all it is, it’s a hypothesis, that women were treated with massage for this disease, hysteria… and that the vibrator was invented to treat this disease . Well, people thought it was such a cool idea that they believed it, that it was like a fact. And I say to myself: “It’s a hypothesis! It’s a hypothesis!’