It's Not A Myth That Doctors Used To Masturbate Their Female Patients
One journalist is trying to whitewash this disgusting history
You have probably heard the twisted yarn by now. Medieval physicians once believed hysteria in women was caused by bad "seed" — pent-up sexual arousal. So they masturbated their female patients until they reached "hysterical paroxysm" — orgasm. At first, they manually stimulated women, but once the vibrator was invented in the nineteenth century, doctors were saved from carpal tunnel.
It's the classic "necessity as the mother of invention" tale with a pervy twist.
What's not to love?
Unfortunately, journalist Hallie Lieberman doesn't love this grim chapter in medical history and has been on a crusade to rewrite it. She claims doctors never masturbated their patients and focuses her attack on historian Rachel P. Maines' critically acclaimed book on the history of vibrators, The Technology of Orgasm.
Lieberman doesn't mince words. She writes, "Technology of Orgasm represents a failure in academic quality control."
Ouch. I am obviously going to be on team historian, but let's unpack this catfight.
Lieberman writes, "manual massage of female genitals was never a routine medical…
