For a few centuries (namely those buffered by the end of the Edwardian and Victorian eras), the repression of sexuality led to warped views on the female libido. Even female doctors at the time, such as Dr. Elizabath Blackwell, admonished masturbation. When male doctors discovered that the clitoris was the main cause of female “sensations," some doctors even went as far as to try to remove the offensive little button of pleasure. Ovaries were removed to prevent nymphomania. The kindest of the doctors used techniques on their patients to treat them for “hysteria,” which was seen as a psychological illness that taunted bored, rich, and sexually deprived women. In order to “cure” them of their hysteria, Victorian doctors would often masturbate their female patients using vaginal massage to bring them to a state of “hysterical paroxysm.” Sometimes this “la titillation du clitoris” is attributed to, of course, a kinky French physician named Pierre Briquet. Today that term is commonly known as “orgasm.”
Pelvic Massage
