WIN! A smart wand vibrator (and learn more about the vibrator)

By Elle Black, founder of designer sex toy boutique, Mimi De Luxe.

Do you know how much vibrators have changed over the last 130 years? With the release of Hysteria, a movie about vibrators featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal, we thought it would be educational to look at the best and worst vibrator designs throughout the ages.

Firstly, we can't start this journey without providing you with where the need for vibrators came from. It was not a need, as you might expect from women, but a need from doctors. In the Victorian era, and long before, women went to see doctors to get a “pelvic massage” to treat their “female hysteria”. The “pelvic massage” resulted in orgasm, only it was given a very medical sounding term “hysterical paroxysm”, and thus the woman went away cured.

The Manipulator

Doctors found giving pelvic massages time consuming and it made their poor little wrists hurt! So in 1880 a Dr created a steam-powered device called the “Manipulator”. Sounds like a man we've all dated right? Anyway the Manipulator didn't take off, wow, what a surprise? Just looking at that stunning design I wonder why women aren't lining up to get their rocks off on it now!

To celebrate the release of the movie Hysteria iVillage and Mimi De Luxe are giving away the recently released LELO Smart Wand, worth $185.95. Click here to enter.
The Hand-crank

From the 'Manipulator' the doors of design opened with one doctor thinking his hand-crank (or clockwork driven vibrator) might do the trick. It really does look like something you could do some joinery with, or maybe it was an early form of BDSM...needless to say this design didn't take off either.

However the hand-crank did inspire this VeeDee vibrator (pictured right), which was available in the early 1900's, it was sold with a huge range of massage tools and could cure not only “hysteria”, but colds, digestion, flatulence and belching – imagine having a cure for flatulence and belching in a machine – if only Marge Simpson knew of such a device!

To celebrate the release of the movie Hysteria, iVillage and Mimi De Luxe are giving away the recently released LELO Smart Wand, worth $185.95. Click here to enter.
Vibrators rise in popularity

In the early 1900s vibrators became extremely popular - just look at this cracker the industry churned out! Vibrators become the fifth most popular electrical appliance in every home and ads ran in mainstream media such as Woman's Home Companion, Needlecraft and Sears. Talk about déjà vu, as vibrators are starting to be sold again in mainstream shops like Walmart, Chemist Direct and this year saw an advertising campaign in a Mother's Day catalogue for National Pharmacies. Although I can't imagine seeing an advert in the Country Women's Association soon...
The secret to living well

It was sell, sell, sell for vibrators during this era with vibrators purporting to hold the secret to a well life: “The secret of the ages has been discovered in Vibration. Great scientists tell us that we owe not only our health but even our life strength to this wonderful force. Vibration promotes life and vigour, strength and beauty...Vibrate Your Body and Make It Well. YOU Have No Right to Be Sick.”

To celebrate the release of the movie Hysteria, iVillage and Mimi De Luxe are giving away the recently released LELO Smart Wand, worth $185.95. Click here to enter.
Gyro-Later

In the late 1920's the vibrators reputation started to become smutty as they started to be used in pornographic films. Women felt they could no longer buy them under the guise of wellness as the porn industry exposed just how much pleasure you can get from vibrating to an inch of your life – although in usual porn star acting it was probably over the top and the woman had the most amazing climaxes each and every time!

So blame the film industry for the decline of vibrators from 1920 to at least 1940! Although, it wasn't entirely the fault of the film industry as there was there were a few other worldwide events like war, depression, more war...but then in the late 1940s' the Gyro-Later popped up. This marked the beginning of a massive design change in vibrators. The devices no longer looked like instruments of torture, but started to resemble instruments of pleasure, well at least compared to their predecessors.
Battery operated

From there the 50's saw a new profession, sex therapists. These professionals touted the benefits of vibrators and how they can deliver orgasms to inorgastic patients, whilst other advertisers still hid behind other reasons to buy vibrators - like for weight loss!

Still not something we'd want to jump into bed with...those poor women! Bring on the free-loving 60's, 70's, feminism and The Joy of Sex.
Plastic fantastic

The late 80's was the time of the 'plastic fantastic' with silicone sex toys, penis shaped novelties and sex shops popping up everywhere (mostly with flashing neon lights and brown paper bags). In the 1990's California Exotics created the rabbit vibrator which became mainstream after it was featured in an episode of Sex and the City. The 1990's was also the time of the “design for women” phase. Not only were manufacturers creating more aesthetic designs, they also sought women's opinions in the design phase. Many companies, like California Exotics, were (and still are) female owned and operated. Girl Power!
Designer vibrators

Welcome to the naughties and say hello to LELO, a Swedish design company that changed vibrator design for the better. Finally, a company that understood women by designing products that look like Alessi objet d'art and arrived in packaging more like Tiffany's - rather than a sex shop. Shortly after LELO, JimmyJane also came on the scene with their equally appealing designer vibrators, and now there are at least twenty manufactures who specialise in designer vibrators.
Win a Lelo Smart Wand!

To celebrate the release of the movie Hysteria, iVillage and Mimi De Luxe are giving away the recently released LELO Smart Wand, worth $185.95. Click here to enter.
Next Up: Everything you ever wanted to know about sex toys but were too embarrassed to ask
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