• megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        39·
        5 days ago

        Oh, yah, it was developed by their medical equipment division. Also patented as a massager and was registered with the FDA as such. Then people realized what else it could do.

        The really funny part is that hitachi’s main business is heavy industry stuff; power plants, cranes, electrical infrastructure, jet fighters, trains, semiconductors, all sorts of stuff. But everyone knows them for that one time they made a massager that everyone uses as a sex toy.

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
          8·
          4 days ago

          Haha, sort of, but also kind of the other way around.

          According to historian Rachel Maines, physicians provided pelvic massages for thousands of years to female patients without it being considered erotic or sexually stimulating. After the Western Industrial Revolution, physicians began using electric machines in medicine, including the medical vibrator, which researchers theorize was used to more efficiently bring women to a hysterical paroxysm, the former medical term for a female orgasm.

          https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/medical-vibrators-treatment-female-hysteria

          The whole article is a trip. Medicine didn’t even recognize that external massage could cause pleasure to women until the late 1800s.

          Hydrotherapy treatment involved the pelvic douche, which was an apparatus that originated in France during the mid 1800s. Hydrotherapy spas were located in European-style bathhouses and spas, and treatment involved aiming a powerful jet of water at a woman’s inner thighs and genitals. Health specialists claimed the device could cause hysterical paroxysm in under four minutes.

          Truly amazing how much people care about the female orgasm when it’s about fixing crazy broads and not about pleasure. Honestly, good on them for keeping quiet for so long.

      • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
        9·
        5 days ago

        They are very powerful vibrators, which is exactly what makes them good for massages. Main downside is that the muscles that most people would want to massage (back, shoulders, neck) are kind of hard to reach when you try to use it on yourself.

    • ALQ@lemmy.world
      121·
      5 days ago

      Doesn’t have the same vibration power as a corded. Not worth it, in my opinion.

      • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
        5·
        5 days ago

        It’s actually slightly more powerful than the corded if you keep it plugged in while using it, because it gets more powerful when it’s plugged in and its max setting is higher than the original. The reputation for less power just comes from the fact that it offers much lower settings than the original had, but the max is 300rpm higher than the max of the original.
        Definitely the better option IMO. Way more maneuverability when there’s no cord in the way and if you were gonna use it wired, it’s better for that too anyway.

        • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          3·
          4 days ago

          Yeah but does the head have less mass. Faster isn’t necessarily more powerful, having a vibe that’s rumbly instead of buzzy is generally desired (both from what I hear about clit stim and my own prostate experiences)

          • Sombyr@lemmy.zip
            3·
            4 days ago

            I don’t know what creates the better vibrations tbh, I just know from my own personal experience there isn’t enough difference for me to notice at max (while plugged in I mean, the thing’s very noticeably weaker running purely on battery.)
            Not that I own a wired one personally for full disclosure (and therefore don’t have that much experience with it) but I’m talking from the minimal experience I do have combined with the numbers.