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Courtesy of Good Vibrations

Hard to imagine that you owe them all to a doctor named George Taylor, “hysterical women,” and a very tired arm.

Female hysteria was a common complaint of women throughout the 1800s. Doctors soon discovered that massaging the clitoris eased the condition of these “sick” women. In fact, these women were just plain sexually frustrated, but since it was the Victorian era, and desire was not “lady-like,” the need for orgasmic pleasure was treated as a disease.

Soon, Taylor and his colleagues suffered from tired and aching arms as a result of caring for their patients. Poor guys. So Taylor, tapping into the current fascination with mechanics, created a steam-powered contraption in 1869 that did all the work for him.

Taylor employed his vibrating invention to “calm” his female patients. He had no idea (or at least claimed to have no idea) that the relief the machine provided was an orgasm. He claimed it was “hysterical paroxysm.” Thus, the first vibrator wasn't a sex toy, but a medical device. Its true identity would be revealed much later.

British physician Joseph Mortimer Granville is credited with making the vibrator battery operated. This made the instrument lighter and more portable. He also offered a selection of attachments to vary the sensation. Unlike Taylor’s invention, however, Granville’s was prescribed for “men with muscle pain.”

Finally in the 1920s, the vibrator appeared in the Sears catalogs marketed as a home appliance. It was seen as a way to keep women “young, healthy and beautiful” and to cure headaches, asthma and “fading beauty.” According to Exalte.com, ads titillated readers with phrases like, “that delicious, thrilling health-restoring sensation called vibration,” and “it makes you fairly tingle with the joy of living!”

But this wholesome image was dashed with the debut of porn films in which women used vibrators. The secret was out. These were (gasp) sex toys. They quickly disappeared from the pages of Sears and Roebuck.

Vibrators then went into the closet (literally) until the 1960s when feminist sex educators began promoting them as tools of pleasure. Hurrah! As time went on, they became more and more popular. Styles and function have evolved greatly over the years.

Of course there is still the general penis shaped vibrator, just turn it on and away you go. There’s the lovely butterfly vibrator. But perhaps the most highly acclaimed vibrator is "The Rabbit Vibrator," best known for its appearance on one of my favorite TV shows, Sex and the City. This model has a revolving head for vaginal entry and a cute little vibrating critter designed to tickle the clitoris. The critter is a rabbit, dolphin, kangaroo, monkey or a beaver.

There are also vibrators disguised to avoid embarrassing situations. Some look like a simple tube of lipstick or a small bottle of nail polish. There are also cute little vibrators for the tub. This vibrator looks like an innocent rubber duck, but don't let the kids get a hold of him.