Leah Dobres

Taking the Rabbit by the Ears: How Feminism Reinvented the Vibrator

Leah Dobres

We’ve all heard our favorite podcast host or youtuber do an ad-read for an adult toy site where you can use their name as a coupon code to get 50% off the sex toy of your dreams. It has never been easier, it seems, for the ordinary American to purchase a sex toy. Certainly, while it is now easier than ever to buy a sex toy explicitly marked as such, the ability to walk into a variety of stores and purchase a vibrator did not begin with hot pink, battery operated devices on shelves alongside condoms and lube at CVS or Target. In the first half of the 20th century, vibrators were available for purchase at stores such like Sears and actively advertised for in newspapers and magazines as beauty tools. Vibrator purchase became increasingly stigmatized because of their explicit association with masturbation by the feminist movement. However, with this added stigma from parts of society, the vibrator transformed into a symbol of female sexuality and sexual liberation. Though they’ve always had sexual uses, the feminist movement and sexual revolution of the 1970s revolutionized the vibrator’s image from a device to minimize women’s perceived bodily flaws to a one of women’s liberation, continuing into the current day as vibrators reclaim their place of normality in American life, but do so with the explicit label of “sex toy,” representing increasingly accepting attitudes towards female sexuality and power. The vibrator's transformation from a tool of beauty to a tool of sexuality liberated women sexually, but also took an item representative of oppression and turned it into one of liberation.

British physician J. Mortimer Granville is credited for inventing the electromechanical vibrator in the 1880s as a cure for nervous problems based on his belief that disease resulted from deviation from the natural vibration frequencies of the body’s nerves. Granville thought his device to be a solution to a myriad of medical problems, including lack of sexual power in men, recommending that doctors massage the perineum of male patients to cure this ailment. The medical establishment saw the device as a scam, represented by a 1915 physician who called the vibrator a “delusion and a snare” and noted “if it has any effect, it is psychology.”1 Nonetheless, electric companies advertised their products to consumers as health aids, promising a scientifically backed product that a 1909 New York Times advertisement describes as “universally indorsed by the medical profession.”2 (Figure 1).

The vibrator was a common consumer product in the early 1900s and pervasive in consumer advertising as part of a wave of new electrically powered products sweeping America. The New York Times ran 48 advertisements per year for vibrators in 1908 and 1909 and in 1920, annual vibrator sales were believed to be in the millions. In this period, the advertisements targeted the upper class who were in the rapidly growing but still relatively small percentage of urban households with electricity and could spare the cost - the average vibrator cost $16 in the 1910s without any specialized attachments. Nearly all vibrator companies of the 1910s and 1920s made phallic attachments for their products, indicating early sexual use, however, there is little concrete evidence that vibrators were used for masturbation in this period, likely due to the severe taboos around sexual immorality. The government’s regulation of sexual behavior is exemplified by the Comstock Act, an anti-obscenity law passed in 1873 that allowed the postal service to confiscate immoral materials sent through the mail and arrest the sender.3 Because of this law, if the vibrator were advertised as explicitly sexual, it would be illegal to send through the mail. Nonetheless, vibrator companies had plenty of non-sexual means to sell their products, often by appealing to women’s insecurities.

Figure 1: "Display Ad 3 -- no Title." 1909.New York Times (1857-1922), Feb 28, 2. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/loginqurl=https%3A%2F %2Fwww. proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-3-no-title%2Fdocview%2F96958707%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

In an advertisement for the Arnold Massage Vibrator from 1909 (Figure 1), headings read “strengthens old and young,” “leading physicians and specialists,” “overwork and fatigue,” “safe and simple in use,” and “obesity and facial beauty.” Small cartoon images show various people using the vibrator, with the men using it on their backs and legs. The women in the cartoons, however, are using the vibrator on their faces4, demonstrating the appeal to “facial beauty” the advertisement makes. An advertisement from the same year (Figure 2) shows only one image, a similar illustration of a beautiful young woman with her hair done and an off-the-shoulder dress using a vibrator on her face, and features text telling consumers that “no ‘particular’ lady’s dressing table is complete without one.”5 Another 1909 Arnold advertisement (Figure 3) appeals more directly to female consumers, noting that “every woman can have a perfectly developed figure, as Arnold’s Vibratory Massage develops and strengthens the muscles and removes fatty tissues” and “every woman can have a faultless complexion, as this Arnold’s Vibratory Massage is the new method of clearing the complexion, removing wrinkles, crow’s feet and pimples.” 6 A final advertisement of the time from 1920 (Figure 4) displays yet another illustration of a young woman vibrating her face while sitting at a vanity, “don’t have a pale, oldish, unattractive complexion or coarse, brittle, unmanageable hair,” it warns readers, “more than half a million women keep their skin and hair beautifully youthful by once or twice a week home treatments with the electric vibrator.” 7

Figure 2: “Display Ad 5 -- No Title.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922), 9 May 1909, p. 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-5-no-title%2Fdocview%2F173411157%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

Figure 3: “Display Ad 55 -- No Title.” Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), 14 Mar. 1909, p. 41. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/loginqurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-55-no-title%2Fdocview%2F501228137%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

Figure 4:“Display Ad 10 -- No Title.” Los Angeles Times (1886-1922), 22 June 1920, p. 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/loginqurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-10-no-title%2Fdocview%2F160807487%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

Although all these advertisements feature at least some mention of the vibrator’s usefulness to men and children, the focus is undoubtably on the benefits to women’s appearance. Advertisers used the newfound insecurities of 20th century women to market the vibrator in an age when the female body increasingly became a project for women, with focus on facial beauty and thinness.8 The trend of vibrator advertisements highlighting ways that women could conquer their insecurities continued into the 1950s with promises of “the modern easy way to slenderize at home”9 and reducing hips, thighs, waist, and tummy.10 While it was once enough for a woman to be virtuous, the 20th century woman had to be attractive, constantly on a mission to improve her body to be attractive to potential partners, or even her husband, and these advertisements capitalized on this, with the vibrator as one of countless beauty tools in a woman’s arsenal, as sold to her by societal expectations about femininity, as pushed by the men who stood to line their pockets by creating solutions to problems that they and others like them made up. In this way, vibrators, like many other beauty aids of the time, could be seen as a direct effect of these imposed beauty standards that put women in constant competition with other women, and even themselves.

While evidence suggests that some proportion of vibrator users since their invention have used the devices for sexual purposes, the 1970s marked a sharp turn in the American public’s perception of vibrators, largely thanks to sex-positive sects of the women’s liberation movement, who emphasized the role of sexual pleasure in women’s liberation, promoting the use of vibrators in masturbation for women to achieve orgasm. The women’s liberation movement, also known as second wave feminism, sought to demonstrate women’s equality with men in work and politics and their rights and autonomy in reproduction and sexuality.11 A large focus for some second wave feminists was conscious raising surrounding women’s health. In 1969, a group of women came together in Boston to raise awareness of both clinicians’ and the general public’s ignorance surrounding women’s bodies and created educational materials which became the bestselling book, Our Bodies Ourselves. The book inspired a wave of female writers discussing female health, particularly surrounding topics of sex and sexuality, with some feminists viewing sexual pleasure as key to women’s liberation. One such feminist, Betty Dodson, explained that women’s liberation was impossible without sexual freedom, and sexual freedom was impossible without masturbation. 12 The idea that women could get sexual pleasure without relying on men was radical at the time, and the vibrator was integral to this cultural discovery, with women writing to vibrator suppliers about how the product had changed their lives. “The vibrator is the best thing to come along since the wheel […] It never has a cold, snores, talks back, sulks, rejects, is too tired or out of town! It’s always there when you need to massage away an ache, turn yourself on, or come,” said one woman in correspondence with a feminist sex toy store in 1984.13

Adult bookstores of the 1960s existed and sometimes sold sex toys, but were located in dangerous areas that were not hospitable to women due to being relegated to the outskirts of towns far from schools, churches, and playgrounds. As a result, only 1-3% of these stores’ customers were women.14 Feminist sex stores started to pop up in the 70s, selling from women to women, some of which focused almost exclusively on stocking vibrators. One such store, Eve’s Garden, opened in September of 1974 as a mail-order company out of its founder’s New York apartment and offered two vibrators, the Hitachi Magic Wand and the Prelude 3, as well as Betty Dodson’s book, Liberating Masturbation. The store expanded to a retail location in 1979, stocking an expanded range of products focused on helping women find sexual pleasure and promoting a sense of sisterhood among its clients,15 showing an effort towards sexual liberation directly through use of vibrators and towards women's liberation more broadly through women owned businesses that served to cultivate community and educate their clients on sexual matters.

After 1970, vibrator advertisements no longer show the vibrator as a beauty aid. In fact, vibrator ads became incredibly rare and nearly nonexistent in mainstream newspapers where they were once sold, now only featured in niche publications such as feminist or lesbian magazines or independent newspapers. There was no longer plausible deniability that these were being used for sexual purposes. Despite progress of the feminist movement, this still carried a great deal of taboo, and advertisements now highlighted discreet packaging of products and low noise levels so as not to alert mail carriers or neighbors of one's sexual exploration.

The sharp shift of vibrators being sold as a means to fit a beauty standard to a tool of sexual liberation can be seen in two Cosmopolitan advertisements, the first, from 1970 (Figure 5) features a decidedly phallic looking vibrator being used on a woman’s face, described as “handy for milady to tone up face, arms, legs, etc.”16 Even in this magazine ostensibly directed at women, and even with a risque design, the advertisement still appeals to women's insecurities, a tool to The second, from 1978 (Figure 6), reads in large font, “let’s be truthful, woman to woman” and includes a photo of “The Stimulator,” the vibrator being advertised and messaging telling the reader, “We owe it to ourselves to fully experience what it means to be a woman… and enjoy the total sensual and emotional pleasure that every woman yearns for.”17 The "woman to woman" framing shows the impact of the feminist movement in turning the vibrator into a woman's tool, and though it is not clear who actually made the advertisement, it demonstrates the shift in power dynamics around vibrators. They are no longer seeking to increase beauty, but to increase pleasure. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, vibrators maintained their place as tools of sexual liberation, but had little, if any, representation in mainstream media, seen as improper to discuss or acknowledge outside of feminist spaces or the privacy of one’s own bedroom.

Figure 5: "Advertisement: THE COSMO SHOPPER." Cosmopolitan, 09, 1970, 194-199, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fadvertisement-cosmo-shopper%2Fdocview%2F1845269658%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

Figure 6: "Advertisement: THE COSMOPOLITAN SHOPPER." Cosmopolitan, 06, 1978, 289-299, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fadvertisement-cosmopolitan-shopper%2Fdocview%2F1851624553%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

The 1998 Sex and the City episode “The Turtle and the Hare” propelled vibrators into the national conversation, as Miranda tells her friends about the “ultimate” vibrator known as the Rabbit. Miranda mentions the device during a comment about men becoming obsolete, not even needing them to have sex with anymore, and says that she knows where her next orgasm is coming from.17 She then brings her friends to a sex store where they too, buy the Rabbit. At first hesitant, Charlotte, the most prim and proper of the group, later cancels plans to spend the night with her vibrator. Carol Queen a staff sexologist at a San Francisco sex-toy store, recalls how the day after the episode aired, a line of women came into the store asking for the Rabbit by name. The episode showed mainstream, upper-class women going to a sex store, and that it was not scandalous or intimidating, inspiring scores of viewers to do the same and reducing stigma around publicly discussing vibrators and seeing them as an alternative way to get sexual satisfaction, rather than hookups. More than 25 years later, a Sex and the City New York bus tour stops at the sex shop featured in the episode for fans to go buy a vibrator from the same store as their favorite characters.19

Video 1: Kolinsky, Susan, and Nicole Avril. “The Turtle and the Hare.” Episode. Sex and the City 1, no. 9, August 2, 1998

Relevant portion is 4:09 - 4:59.

In a post Sex and the City world, vibrators became more ubiquitous in film and television, at times exploring their use among populations differing from young, straight, white women like Miranda and Charlotte. One example is in the Netflix original Grace and Frankie, which ran from 2015-2022. During the third season, the titular characters try to start a sex toy company catering to women over 60 20 (video 2). This challenges notions about older women, who are often imagined not to have sexual desires as Grace and Frankie take matters into their own hands. Though the show is a comedy, the company itself is not played as a joke. Rather, the humor comes from the way that others react,21 showing that while their expectations are subverted, it is those who react poorly that are incorrect, not the sexually liberated septuagenarians. Additionally, if Grace and Frankie were in their 60s or 70s in 2017, they were coming of age around the era of the women's liberation movement and are looking to sell to peers of the same generation who may have previous experience with vibrators or may not have been exposed during their youth, and were perhaps older than the target demographic of Sex and the City, therefore learning about vibrators at a later point in life.

Video 2: GRACE AND FRANKIE Official Season 3 Trailer (HD) Lily Tomlin Comedy Series. YouTube. YouTube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos4fqdGIzQ&t=4s.

In the late 2010s, Youtube and podcast creators began promoting sex toy companies such as Adam and Eve in their videos. Sometimes these ads are part of videos already tackling topics around sexuality,22 but more often, they are in videos unrelated to sex (video 3 is an example). 23, 24, 25 Inclusion in these unrelated videos treats sex toys like any other product the content creator may advertise, from perfumes to mobile games to virtual private networks. The fact that these creators, whose brands are built on their personal image, feel comfortable promoting vibrators to their viewers as they talk openly about their favorite toys normalization of conversations around sexuality, not fearing that being seen as sexual beings or known to use sex toys will damage their reputations. This also further normalizes the use of vibrators and other sex toys for viewers of this content.

Video 3: Are Progressive Reboots Good? YouTube. YouTube, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euL8a1b_hbU.

Relevant portion (Adam and Eve advertisement) is 6:16 - 8:37

A young woman in 1910 and one in 2023 will both encounter their fair share of vibrator advertisements in the media they consume. The content and messages behind these advertisements and the resultant relationships with the buzzing devices are in stark contrast. In a new age of consumerism, the vibrator was a technologically advanced way to beautify oneself to fit societal standards about how a young woman ought to appear. The vibrator held this same place in the cultural zeitgeist for more than half of a century. By saying the quiet part out loud and pointing out the sexual functions of the devices, feminists created an indelible association among the general public between the vibrator and female sexuality. They did more than introduce women to a new form of sexual pleasure, however. This radical transformation of an object used to conform to societal expectations into a subversive means to find pleasure in spite of sexual norms took back a piece of power that women had long been robbed of, the power to control one's own life. Whether vibrations are applied to the face to rid one of crow's feet and facial fat or to the genitals to bring about orgasm, in the grand scheme of things, may seem inconsequential, but it shows a major change as feminists took ownership over their own lives and destinies. In the modern day, vibrators may be as commonplace as they were in the 1910s, but with a different meaning, as it has become increasingly common for women to talk more openly about their sexualities, acknowledging themselves as sexual beings throughout various stages of life.

Citations

1. Lieberman, Hallie. “Selling Sex Toys: Marketing and the Meaning of Vibrators in Early Twentieth Century America.” Enterprise & Society 17, no. 2 (2016): 393–433. doi:10.1017/eso.2015.97.

2. "Display Ad 3 -- no Title." 1909.New York Times (1857-1922), Feb 28, 2. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-3-no-title%2Fdocview%2F96958707%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

3. Lieberman, "Selling Sex Toys." 2016.

4. "Display Ad 3 -- no Title." 1909.

5. “Display Ad 5 -- No Title.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922), 9 May 1909, p. 7. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-5-no-title%2Fdocview%2F173411157%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

6. “Display Ad 55 -- No Title.” Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), 14 Mar. 1909, p. 41. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-55-no-title%2Fdocview%2F501228137%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

7. “Display Ad 10 -- No Title.” Los Angeles Times (1886-1922), 22 June 1920, p. 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-10-no-title%2Fdocview%2F160807487%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

8. Blower, Brooke. “Girls Gone Wild.” HI 303. Lecture, February 14, 2023.

9. “Display Ad 39 -- No Title.” The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959), 23 Apr. 1958, p. 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fdisplay-ad-39-no-title%2Fdocview%2F149007253%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

10. "Advertisements." 1958.Cosmopolitan, 09, 25. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/loginqurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fadvertisements

%2Fdocview%2F1999146168%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

11. Lieberman, Hallie. “Intimate Transactions: Sex Toys and the Sexual Discourse of Second-Wave Feminism.” Sexuality & Culture 21 (2016): 96–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-016-9383-9.

12. Loe, Meika. “‘Dildos in Our Toolboxes’ The Production of Sexuality at a pro-Sex Feminist Sex Toy Store.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology 43 (1998): 97–136. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41035538.

13. Lieberman, “Intimate Transactions." 2016.

14. Lieberman, “Intimate Transactions." 2016.

15. Lieberman, “Intimate Transactions." 2016.

16. "Advertisement: THE COSMO SHOPPER." Cosmopolitan, 09, 1970, 194-199, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fadvertisement-cosmo-shopper%2Fdocview%2F1845269658%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

17. "Advertisement: THE COSMOPOLITAN SHOPPER." Cosmopolitan, 06, 1978, 289-299, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fadvertisement-cosmopolitan-shopper%2Fdocview%2F1851624553%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.

18. Kolinsky, Susan, and Nicole Avril. “The Turtle and the Hare.” Episode. Sex and the City 1, no. 9, August 2, 1998.

19. Comella, Lynn. “20 Years Later, How the 'Sex and the City' Vibrator Episode Created a Lasting Buzz.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, August 7, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lynncomella/2018/08/07/20-years-later-how-the-sex-and-the-city-vibrator-episode-created-a-lasting-buzz/?sh=a4a4926649b3.

20. GRACE AND FRANKIE Official Season 3 Trailer (HD) Lily Tomlin Comedy Series. YouTube. YouTube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos4fqdGIzQ&t=4s.

21. Romero, Ariana. “This Netflix Show Gets Very Real about Sex Toys.” Grace And Frankie Sex Toys, Vibrators Women Arthritis, March 24, 2017. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/03/146921/grace-and-frankie-vibrators-older-women-masturbation.

22. "Weirdest Sex Questions" Answered (@GoodMythicalMorning Reaction) #Education #Internet #Questions. YouTube. YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6rNBUjVueQ.

23. Motherhood for the “Aesthetic” and Cottage Core Pick Me’s. YouTube. YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdbWIyY66mo.

24. Shari Franke Breaks Her Silence About Connexions - Exmormons React. YouTube. YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS02qjA-kU0.

25. Are Progressive Reboots Good? YouTube. YouTube, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euL8a1b_hbU.

About The Author

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, Leah is a prototypical eldest daughter raised by a lawyer father and a Jewish mother, which frankly explains a lot. She is a senior at Boston University where she studies sociology and biology with plans to apply to medical school after graduation. Leah's greatest pleasures in life include spending time in the sunshine, her extensively color-coded planner, road trips, frozen margaritas, listening to the Glee Cast versions of 80s songs, and talking her friends' ears off about why Ohio is superior to the other 49 states.

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