Female Hysteria and Masturbation as Medicine

Nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, loss of appetite, increased or decreased sexual desire... the reasons for these symptoms can be very varied these days, but if a woman exhibited them in the 19th century, she was basically “a case of hysteria.” How were the doctors of that time supposed to treat that condition? With genital stimulation to “release the accumulated fluids” in the patient…

The Wandering Uterus

The first step to understand this precisely is to trace the origin of the word “hysteria.” Apparently it comes from ὑστέρα (hystera), an expression related to the uterus. In ancient times, doctors believed in the concept of the “wandering uterus,” describing the organ as “an animal within another animal,” with a life of its own, moving through the body, causing all kinds of health problems in women. The treatment? “Good smells on the genitals and bad smells on the nose,” in an attempt to make it return to its position. It was believed that the uterus appreciated pleasant smells and moved away from bad ones…

It was not until the 2nd century AD that Galen defined the uterus as stationary, although he also reached curious conclusions. Galen believed that the most affected group was widows, and that the problem boiled down to a “retention of female seed.” He kept aromatherapy as part of the treatment and recommended that women have sex, in addition to applying an ointment to the genital area, a task exclusively for midwives, not doctors.

Even so, the idea of a runaway uterus retaining fluids persisted for centuries, with things like demonic possession added, especially during the 16th century. However, from the 17th century onward, “female hysteria” was established as something to be solved only by medicine, whose first recommendation was to marry and have periodic sexual encounters with the husband (since masturbation was “taboo and sinful”). These parameters placed unmarried women, widows, and nuns in a supposed position of vulnerability (similar to what Galen thought), and for them, manual stimulation by a midwife was allowed.

The 19th Century: Massage and the First Vibrators

With the 19th century came the term “hysterical paroxysm,” something more formal and professional to describe the female orgasm. Hypotheses suggest that doctors were sought for massage applications, a treatment they considered inconvenient and unproductive, leading to the development of the first vibrators. But they are nothing more than hypotheses, and firm evidence is almost nonexistent. In fact, models like the “Pulsocon” of Doctor Macaura didn’t originally have a sexual application and were used to treat headaches, irritability, indigestion, and constipation in men and women.

The Decline of Hysteria

Beyond its usefulness against female hysteria, the truth is that the development and commercialization of vibrators exploded from the 20th century onward. Of course, advertisements were careful to avoid the word “masturbation” and spoke of “stimulating” or “restoring vigor.” In other words, they ended up joining the category of the famous “cure-all” (just like Coca-Cola), which led to an investigation by the FDA... but that’s another story. As for hysteria itself, its mass diagnosis lost strength. Freud declared it “an internal and emotional affliction that affects men and women,” and doctors were never able to link the symptoms to the condition.

Source: Vintage Everyday