u/wonderue

I was hootin' and hollerin' when Robert repeated the debunked claim about doctors treating hysteria with orgasms and this being the reason for vibrators being invented. The origin of this theory, Rachel Maine's 1999 book "The Technology of Orgasm", has been debunked by many researchers, but the theory has nonetheless spread far and wide. Some sources:

https://journalofpositivesexuality.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Failure-of-Academic-Quality-Control-Technology-of-Orgasm-Lieberman-Schatzberg.pdf

https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/what-is-hysteria

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/09/victorian-vibrators-orgasms-doctors/569446/ (non paywall version https://archive.md/cvyq5)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/10/victorians-invent-vibrator-orgasms-women-doctors-fantasy

https://web.archive.org/web/20170516202412if\_/http://eugesta.recherche.univ-lille3.fr:80/revue/pdf/2011/King.pdf

https://www.lesleyahall.net/factoids.htm#hysteria