It used to be that when a woman suffered symptoms including stress,
faintness, nervousness, heaviness in the abdomen, fluid retention,
muscle spasms, shortness of breath, irritableness or loss of appetite
(for food or sex), doctors would call it "female hysteria". That's a
lot of symptoms, as you can imagine this must have been diagnosed quite
often! Since ancient times through the Victorian age, the 19th
century, doctors would diagnose this ailment and prescribe treatment,
which included inducing orgasm.
It's true, doctors would prescribe orgasm for any female suffering
these ailments! Doctors would treat this ailment by what is now
considered masturbation. At the time, this procedure of manually
stimulating a woman's clit was not considered to be connected to sexual
activity. Female hysteria of course is no longer a medically
recognized ailment.
In the 1880s, one doctor decided to take this manual stimulation to the
next level. Doctor Kelsey Stinner, circa 1880, created the first
electrically powered vibrator to treat two ailments, what was then
regarded as "congestion of the genitalia" and "female hysteria" as
mentioned earlier. An American company called Hamilton Beach patented
the first retail vibrator in 1902. At that time, the sexual vibrator
became the 5th appliance to be electrified. One through four consisted
of the sewing machine, electric fan, kettle and bread toaster. The sex
toy vibrator was built and patented before the electric vacuum and the
electric iron!