Can you identify this scene?
Hmmm....4 people making a pact? In a diner?
George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer are
entering into a contest to determine who can go for the longest
period of time without masturbating. Initially, Elaine was
not considered pact potential because of her gender, and as you
might have guessed, she insisted.
The episode was controversial because NBC thought
that masturbation was not a topic suitable for prime time
television. As a result, the word "masturbation" was
avoided and instead a series of euphemisms was used. One euphemism used in the episode, "master of my
domain," has become a popular catchphrase.
Do you remember who won?
Got Hysteria?
In
the Victorian Era, any woman who suffered from faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the abdomen,
muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite
for food or sex, and "a tendency to cause trouble" might be diagnosed with hysteria, a common medical diagnosis.
Manual pelvic massage of the anterior vaginal wall by the doctor until the
patient experienced a 'hysterical paroxysm' was the routine
treatment. If you are thinking that those doctors had a good thing going, well, yes and no. Apparently the massage technique was difficult for some
of the doctors to master (!?!?!?), some patients needed a long session, and many
doctors considered the treatment tedious. Hence, women were
referred to midwives.
This solution, though, caused a loss of business for the doctors.
A solution that
pleased the doctors was the invention of massage devices.
Patients now often needed a treatment of just minutes, rather than hours,
and there was no longer a need for midwives. In 1873, the first
electromechanical vibrator was used at an asylum in France for the
treatment of hysteria.
While physicians acknowledged that the disorder stemmed from sexual
dissatisfaction, they were unwilling to admit the sexual purposes of
the treatment devices. They certainly were not into pro-viding tips
on how to improve sex.
By the early 19th century, the spread of home electricity brought
the vibrator to the consumer market.
Is there
a yahoo group for women with a "tendency to cause trouble" or who
engage in "hysterical paroxysms"?
Pam
Babbitt, Editor-Sex Coach
