Vibrator

A vibrator is a mechanical device that is designed to generate vibrations. There are many different types of vibrator, but the most common are vibrating devices intended to touch the body (including insertion in a body cavity), thereby stimulating the nerves and giving a good and possibly erotic feeling.

Industrial uses of vibrators include:

• In construction industries, vibrators are used to remove air bubbles from freshly poured concrete.
• Small printing firms will use vibrator tables to square-up a pile of pages after they have been printed.

According to recent research, it turns out that the electrically-powered vibrator was invented in the 1880s by doctors, who had been ostensibly treating women for "hysteria" for centuries by performing what we would now recognise as masturbating those women to orgasm. At the time, however, not only did doctors regard the "vulvular stimulation" required as having nothing to do with sex, they reportedly found it time-consuming and hard work. The vibrator got the job done more quickly and without such efforts, and as such was extremely popular with doctors. Home version began to appear soon after and became equally popular, only to disappear in the 1920s. It is believed that their appearance in pornography made it no longer tenable for polite society to avoid the sexual connotations of the devices.

In their more common guise as "body massagers", millions of vibrators have been sold to both men and women. Many of these men and women, it should be noted, never use their purchases for anything other than relief from muscular tension or aches and pains. However, the vast majority of vibrator owners use them to attain sexual release through their use, primarily in masturbation, a form of autoeroticism. Vibrators are also used by couples as an enhancement to the pleasure of one or both partners, and are often recommended by sex therapists to women who have difficulty reaching orgasm by other means.

Although many women who use a vibrator express concern over "vibrator addiction", the inability to achieve orgasm without the use of a vibrator, it must be stressed that this effect is entirely psychological; even long term vibrator use does not lead to any decrease in sensitivity of the sexual nervous system.

The sale of vibrators and similar "novelty items" is forbidden in several states in the Bible Belt[?] in the southern USA. In the state of Texas, the sale of devices for sexual stimulation such as vibrators and dildos are technically illegal, but many stores will sell such items provided that the customer sign a statement that the device will be used only for educational purposes.

Types of vibrators

• traditional - Long, straight, and thin, with a plastic coating. Can be in many different colors
• waterproof - Can be used underwater
• jackrabbit - Two pronged for stimulation of both the vagina and the clitoris
• g-spot - Similar to the traditional vibrator but with a curve and often a soft jelly like coating
• egg (also known as the pocket rocket) - egg shaped vibrator which can be used for stimulation of the clitoris or insertion into the vagina

References:

• Rachel P. Maines: The Technology of Orgasm, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999