In the Georgian Era (18th century) sounds consisted of metal rods about 9 inches (22 centimetres) long, composed of brass or bronze, inserted into the male urethra. This was then vibrated using a tuning fork. The resulting vibration was influenced by many factors such as the metal used, the length of the rod, the diameter of the rod, the depth of insertion and the frequency of the tuning fork.
This was the era of Chamber music or ‘Baroque & Roll’ as I call it, so tuning forks were easily obtained. Brothels, such as those featured in the BBC drama ‘Harlots’, offered this service because it was very quick – works in about 90 seconds – with no need to disrobe, no risk of catching a disease and can be repeated again after less than 5 minutes (and again!)
In his diaries, which were later published, Salvador Dali talks of designing a “Masturbatory Violin” - a violin with a long probe-like attachment which resonated. He describes inserting the probe into his wife and bringing her to orgasm by playing special masturbatory music that he’d composed for the purpose.
But then again, old Sal made up a whole lot of shit…
One of my yoga teachers visited Dali, after he had worked as a lighting engineer on ‘El Cid’. All Dali wanted to do was to take photographs of this guy masturbating in various locations.
Victorian medical text books show the medical profession believed that, both sexes produced seed by ejaculation and this was necessary to produce a pregnancy. Doctors were concerned with ladies who didn’t squirt and encouraged them to do so in order to be healthy.
Ladies used the term ‘sowing seed’ to describe squirting and this led to the term ‘Sewing Circles’, a pun for gatherings of Ladies and their maids in intimate encounters. The concepts of Lesbianism and Bisexuality (Sapphism) were not recognised as distinct behaviours, and were accepted as part of the spectrum of female sexuality. The maids provided the warm-up to the proceedings with some maid-on-maid action, followed by the Ladies indulging in an orgy of maid swapping. Husbands accepted these activities with good humour, since their wives were less likely to commit adultery or get pregnant.
By the 1920s and 1930s the Sewing Circles had reached Hollywood and were usually frequented by lesbians and notoriously promiscuous bisexual movie stars such as Tallulah Bankhead and Jean Harlow.
Reminds me of Seattle. There is a level below street level in Seattle, where buildings joined and you could move freely around (some of it still exists). This is the area frequented by “Seamstresses”. They were organised, had a union and a voice in society. But when the tax people went to inspect their workplace, they found absolutely no sewing machines and a surprising number of beds!
I’m sure you’re aware of those societies in the world which mistreat, or even kill their daughters, who they regard as surplus and worthless. The rural people of Dorset found the perfect solution – if you marry the eldest daughter, the youngest daughter is also included (BOGOF).
The advantages were:
The eldest daughter (wife) has a companion she can trust and knows everything about;
The wife has someone to help her and share her duties;
The wife has no need to be jealous or fear that the other lady has ulterior motives;
The wife and her sister share the marital bed and can satisfy each other if the husband is too tired;
The wife and sister can help each other when pregnant and can breast-feed the others offspring;
They can also help the husband during harvest time and help him if he is ill;
If either sister dies then the living sister will look after her children, which she is genetically related to;
The husband is not likely to stray and will have all his basic needs and fantasies fulfilled.
The only objections would come from the church authorities, but they had little influence in remote areas, especially those which were still pagan, even now.
All this information is available in the census records from 1841 to 1881.
there’s some brilliant ones in the “you can never know enough about sex” section of the Lovehoney podcast too!
