Hysteria and the mechanical aid

[polynices]

'The vibrator was a Victorian gift to women, new film Hysteria reveals'

- Guardian, 7th Nov 2010

Full story here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/07/vibrator-victorian-women-film-hysteria

 

[xssve]

I've a proud member of The Foundation to Treat but not Cure Female Hysteria for over a year.

 

[xssve]

Passion and Power.

 

[amicus]

I have some curious questions to pose concerning the content of this thread, and I will try to go step by step so as not to confuse either you or myself.

First off, a postulation, a stipulation concerning the natural evolution of the species in terms or procreation and sex.

There is no God, never has been, never will be, that dictates, by intent, what human sexuality is all about.

Perhaps an observation of natural and the natural ways of animal procreation, and by that, I mean all...insects, fish, plants, primates, mammals, the entire panorama of life on earth, as we know it.

What first comes to mind is the Pacific Salmon, that are born in the small streams that lead to rivers that lead to the ocean where they go, by instinct, to mature. After some time, four years, I think, those same salmon return to the very same small stream they were born in....the females deposit their eggs and the males come along and fertilize them on the stream beds....and they all die...such a deal...but nature...commands.

There is no foreplay, no seduction, no, 'fish to fish' relationship' just the natural and innate urge to do their thing....and cease to exist.

Those knowledgable, understand the female mammal that lubricates and moves her tail aside for penetration during her, 'season', and no one, save your God, can state with certainty that the female enjoys the encounter that might compare to the ejaculation of the male mammal, be he elk, deer or elephant. (Although in Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel.....or perhaps the second volume of the series...)

In short; female orgasm, is not a necessity for procreation.

So...where does that leave us, Homo Sapiens, sentient and curious as hell about all things sexual...to say the least.

Why in hell did nature bestow a clitoris upon the female?

Why in hell did nature place that clitoris as it did, to not necessarily respond to sexual intercourse, penetration, the act of procreation, making a baby; why not a mutual climax for both?

Nature, like God, has no blueprint for the evolution of man...those of you who know, understand that nature is a trial and error process...that which works and survives...survives...that which does not work, fails, and goes extinct.

I question the existence and the purpose of female orgasms...I have a right to do that, I am not female and have no idea nor conception concerning females and sex...although I write the hell out of my perceptions in an attempt to understand and comprehend.

As in some sea corals, that, in tune with the phases of the moon, release eggs, which drift with the currents...perhaps the ovulation of the female, when she releases the eggs...is the moment of ecstasy that fulfills the innate desire.

In terms of geological time frames, we, humans, are just the latest and the youngest of all species of planet earth..*****...in a form never before realized on earth...and perhaps nowhere else...and we are still a work in progress.

Science fiction would have us in cubicles undergoing continuous orgasms as the ultimate pleasure...hedonism, a continuous search for pleasure in all aspects of life...is popular enough to have a name....so?

I do not know, and I think you do not either, how all of this is positioned in the matrix of human life, especially since we are blessed with free will, choices and specific focal points of our individual existences.

It seems a cruel joke of nature that a woman's orgasm should only be possible through artificial means and not a corollary of sexual intercourse.

But then again, I have been delighted by, but never understood, the mystical nature of the female as she flits on gossamer wings in my imagination of all that is good.

Thas poetry...folks...

ami

 

[Bebeslut]

'The vibrator was a Victorian gift to women, new film Hysteria reveals'

- Guardian, 7th Nov 2010

Full story here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/07/vibrator-victorian-women-film-hysteria

I ran across a coffee table book in Barnes & Noble or Half-Price or somewhere which had a section covering the early manufacture of vibrators. It said that before the invention, doctors had to do the deed themselves, and many were quite pleased with the invention, since it freed them up from the annoying duty.
Remember a few years back, when several psychiatrists were indicted and convicted for using their specialty to seduce women? My, how attitudes change!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The stunning ignorance of women, people, and nature in general displayed in your post is just jaw-dropping. I approach it as one approaches the edge of the Grand Canyon, with trembling and fear at the very sight of such a cavernous maw. How is one supposed to address such a chasm? Little pebbles of truth clink off the sheer walls and disappear into the yawning void.

Nonetheless, let me try.

Nature is parsimonious with her favors. She rarely bestows a trait on an orgasm that doesn't have some survival value, so it's fairly good bet that she had her reason for moving the clitoris to where it is. It's a fairly good bet that the female orgasm has significant survival value in some way.

The best thinking n the subject contends that both the placement of the clitoris and the female orgasm function as powerful forces for socialization and group adhesion in humans. Human beings and our hominid ancestors evolved not as individuals, but as groups. Socialization--the ability of humans to function as a cohesive group--has been more important to our evolutionary success than opposable thumbs or the ability to use language. In fact, in the absence of group cohesion and society, language itself is irrelevant and serves no purpose. We're the most social of social animals.

Alone, a single hominid has zero survivability value. We're not especially strong, or fast, or endowed with big teeth and claws, or protective camouflage. But in groups there seems to be nothing we can't do.

Therefore, anything that enhances the propensity for human beings to care for and about each other enhances group cohesion and survivability. One of the consequences of moving the clitoris to the anterior part of the vagina is that mating is naturally carried out face-to-face, which encourages social bonding between male and female in a way that the more anonymous back-to-front position of most apes doesn't.

In other words, having the clit in front helps people fall in love. The fact that human brings, unlike most mammals, are constantly in rut is another factor that encourages socialization.

As to the female orgasm, it's a very complicated thing, but research shows that the cognitive and emotional aspects are as important as--and very likely more important than--physical stimulation. (See Mary Roach's Bonk for a very good discussion of this.) Women's orgasms are triggered by their minds and hearts as much as their clits, a trait that again reinforces socialization, as her orgasm depends on her feelings for her mate.

Then there's the fact that women generally require more prolonged genital stimulation than men do in order to orgasm. Again, socialization and love. A woman who wants to orgasm is going to have to find a mate who'll take the time and has the concern for her to bring her to climax. When she finds him, there's a good chance she'll stay with him.

I want to point out that all these survival strategies go beyond the procreative and work just as well for homosexual relationships too. A sexual bond between two females (or two males, for that matter) is just as likely to promote group cohesion as a heterosexual one. In survival terms, love is love.

If there's anything that characterizes human sexual behavior, it's the way the act of procreation has been bent and adapted to serve the needs of socialization. What for most animals is a fairly straightforward matter of uniting sperm and egg has, for humans, become an extremely complex and entangled web of emotions, desires, and behaviors that ultimately bind us together.

 

[Edward Teach]

I have some curious questions to pose concerning the content of this thread, and I will try to go step by step so as not to confuse either you or myself.

First off, a postulation, a stipulation concerning the natural evolution of the species in terms or procreation and sex.

There is no God, never has been, never will be, that dictates, by intent, what human sexuality is all about.

Perhaps an observation of natural and the natural ways of animal procreation, and by that, I mean all...insects, fish, plants, primates, mammals, the entire panorama of life on earth, as we know it.

What first comes to mind is the Pacific Salmon, that are born in the small streams that lead to rivers that lead to the ocean where they go, by instinct, to mature. After some time, four years, I think, those same salmon return to the very same small stream they were born in....the females deposit their eggs and the males come along and fertilize them on the stream beds....and they all die...such a deal...but nature...commands.

There is no foreplay, no seduction, no, 'fish to fish' relationship' just the natural and innate urge to do their thing....and cease to exist.

Those knowledgable, understand the female mammal that lubricates and moves her tail aside for penetration during her, 'season', and no one, save your God, can state with certainty that the female enjoys the encounter that might compare to the ejaculation of the male mammal, be he elk, deer or elephant. (Although in Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel.....or perhaps the second volume of the series...)

In short; female orgasm, is not a necessity for procreation.

So...where does that leave us, Homo Sapiens, sentient and curious as hell about all things sexual...to say the least.

Why in hell did nature bestow a clitoris upon the female?

Why in hell did nature place that clitoris as it did, to not necessarily respond to sexual intercourse, penetration, the act of procreation, making a baby; why not a mutual climax for both?

Nature, like God, has no blueprint for the evolution of man...those of you who know, understand that nature is a trial and error process...that which works and survives...survives...that which does not work, fails, and goes extinct.

I question the existence and the purpose of female orgasms...I have a right to do that, I am not female and have no idea nor conception concerning females and sex...although I write the hell out of my perceptions in an attempt to understand and comprehend.

As in some sea corals, that, in tune with the phases of the moon, release eggs, which drift with the currents...perhaps the ovulation of the female, when she releases the eggs...is the moment of ecstasy that fulfills the innate desire.

In terms of geological time frames, we, humans, are just the latest and the youngest of all species of planet earth..*****...in a form never before realized on earth...and perhaps nowhere else...and we are still a work in progress.

Science fiction would have us in cubicles undergoing continuous orgasms as the ultimate pleasure...hedonism, a continuous search for pleasure in all aspects of life...is popular enough to have a name....so?

I do not know, and I think you do not either, how all of this is positioned in the matrix of human life, especially since we are blessed with free will, choices and specific focal points of our individual existences.

It seems a cruel joke of nature that a woman's orgasm should only be possible through artificial means and not a corollary of sexual intercourse.

But then again, I have been delighted by, but never understood, the mystical nature of the female as she flits on gossamer wings in my imagination of all that is good.

Thas poetry...folks...

ami

Jesus fuckin' God! I've always said that your main problem is that you don't know how to flirt or get laid--if this doesn't prove it, it sure as hell reinforces it.

 

[Handley_Page]

Quote Amicus: " Why in hell did nature bestow a clitoris upon the female?

Why in hell did nature place that clitoris as it did, to not necessarily respond to sexual intercourse, penetration, the act of procreation, making a baby; why not a mutual climax for both? "

I reckon it's like this;
In the case of Homo Sapiens, She didn't. Nature made one machine with two functions, one of which diminishes at due time (Hermaphrodites excepted), but leaving some mechanisms in tact, such as the ability to achieve orgasm by stimulation. That some women can have a clitoris of large proportions I quote in support.

Bearing in mind that the nerve complex is (roughly) similar, orgasm is a likely outcome regardless of the particular stimulated nerves that go it going. Stimulation of the clitoris (or the penis), may result in orgasm - whichever sex is doing it.

 

[xssve]

Jesus fuckin' God! I've always said that your main problem is that you don't know how to flirt or get laid--if this doesn't prove it, it sure as hell reinforces it.

His problem is that he relies so heavily on the social constructs and institutions that brainwash women into thinking taking care of the kids and doing housework is all they are capable of that he doesn't have to expend any intellectual energy considering their needs - he just pokes his pathetic wienie in, pops a nut 30 seconds later, and he's "done his duty" - she has to put up with it, or be denounced as an immoral trollop. It's called complacency

Empirically, the female orgasm is anything but vestigial - there is a bit more to fertility than popping said nut, and female orgasm "tills the soil" so to speak: hormones released during orgasm, including which, strengthen the immune system, optimize fertility, optimize "mothering" instincts (oxytocin), delays osteoporosis (again, it don't end with pregnancy, you gotta raise 'em too, and healthy grandmothers can be a considerable advantage), most likely it's also good for muscle tone and general physical health or the female sexual organs, increasing circulation, etc., which gives them better odds of surviving childbirth: the historical rate of Maternal death (death during childbirth) is likely around 1% - it reached as high as 40% in Nineteenth century maternity institutions - 1 in a 100 is pretty appalling if you think about it - 2 out 5 is basically genocide.


I'm sure he's just trolling, craving the usual abuse, but in short, ami is proudly displaying his usual stunted, one sided, self-serving pseudo-logical sophistry, using a heavily edited (imaginary) data set in order to reach the conclusion he prefers - a very Nineteenth century attitude, he'd have been right at home, he'd have made a fine Phrenologist.

 

[TE999]

The article states that the first vibrators were steam powered. Steam powered? Now there's a plot bunny for a bit of Steampunk Erotica if I ever heard one.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I'm imagining dildoes with tiny boilers and smokestacks on them . . .

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm imagining dildoes with tiny boilers and smokestacks on them . . .

I'm imagining a bank of boilers and gearing and flapping belts along one side of the room, driving ever smaller cam systems culminating in one gleaming contraption affixed to a fainting couch.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I'm imagining a bank of boilers and gearing and flapping belts along one side of the room, driving ever smaller cam systems culminating in one gleaming contraption affixed to a fainting couch.

That would be perfectly feasible, as would a foot-powered treadle but my idea is funnier!

 

[Stella_Omega]

That would be perfectly feasible, as would a foot-powered treadle but my idea is funnier!

Laugh your way to orgasm?

Well, it could work...

 

[TE999]

That would be perfectly feasible, as would a foot-powered treadle but my idea is funnier!

Funny! The article also said that some of the first mechanical vibrators could also run mixers and other appliances. I'm not making this up! Now there's a plot bunny.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Laugh your way to orgasm?

Well, it could work...

Didn't I read somewhere that some odd folks have a tickle fetish? I think I'd like it more than something painful, yanno.

 

[TE999]

Didn't I read somewhere that some odd folks have a tickle fetish? I think I'd like it more than something painful, yanno.

Not to mention more than 'water sports' or Coprophagy( 'Scat' to those in the know). Now that's disgusting.

 

[Bebeslut]

I'm imagining dildoes with tiny boilers and smokestacks on them . . .

Now, would that make a great Monopoly token, or what?

 

[Bebeslut]

Funny! The article also said that some of the first mechanical vibrators could also run mixers and other appliances. I'm not making this up! Now there's a plot bunny.

Gives new life to the phrase: "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed."

 

[xssve]

Ancient French Fucking Machines.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The article states that the first vibrators were steam powered. Steam powered? Now there's a plot bunny for a bit of Steampunk Erotica if I ever heard one.

I've got a collaborative novel in the works about the mad doctor who first proposes that women in Victorian England were capable of orgasm. He uses mechanical, spring-powered vibrators made by special Swiss watchmakers after his prototype horse-powered model (a jouncy cart with dildos in the seats) and windmill/waterwheel designs (power take-offs from the central shafts) proved impractical.

The highpoint of the story (I really don't want to say "climax") comes in a Frankensteinian creation-of-the-monster scene where he harnesses the power of electricity to power his newest experiment. It works so well that his transvestite lab assistant runs off with it to South America.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I've got a collaborative novel in the works about the mad doctor who first proposes that women in Victorian England were capable of orgasm. He uses mechanical, spring-powered vibrators made by special Swiss watchmakers after his prototype horse-powered model (a jouncy cart with dildos in the seats) and windmill/waterwheel designs (power take-offs from the central shafts) proved impractical.

The highpoint of the story (I really don't want to say "climax") comes in a Frankensteinian creation-of-the-monster scene where he harnesses the power of electricity to power his newest experiment. It works so well that his transvestite lab assistant runs off with it to South America.

And it will be published in the Humor section, no?