Galen and the widow: towards a history of therapeutic masturbation in ancient gynaecology

King, Helen (2011). Galen and the widow: towards a history of therapeutic masturbation in ancient gynaecology. EuGeStA: Journal on Gender Studies in Antiquity, 1 pp. 205–235.

URL: http://eugesta.recherche.univ-lille3.fr/revue/pdf/...

Abstract

This paper offers a close reading of the ancient Greek and Roman texts which Rachel Maines (The Technology of Orgasm, 1999) used as evidence for therapeutic masturbation in the ancient world, and thus presented as precursors for the vibrator. Examining the evidence of the Hippocratic corpus, Celsus, Soranus and Galen, it shows that the lines of transmission between the ancient sources, and in their later reception, are far more complex than her work suggests, and thus challenges her claims for the normality of massage to orgasm in Western medicine. While Maines herself has subsequently insisted that she proposed a ‘hypothesis’ rather than a ‘fact’, in the popular reception of her book this distinction has been almost entirely overlooked, leading to an obscuring of female agency – both as patients, and as healers.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 30726
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 2156-2253
• Extra Information
• Winner of the 2011 (presented 2013) Barbara McManus Prize for Best Published Article on Gender or Women’s Studies in Antiquity
• Keywords
• vibrator; desire; orgasm hysteria; masturbation; massage; seed; midwives; translation
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Arts and Humanities > Classical Studies
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Arts and Humanities
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
• Copyright Holders
• © 2011 EuGeStA
• Related URLs
• • http://eugesta.recherche.univ-lille3.fr/...(Other)
  • http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.co.uk...(Other)
• Depositing User
• Helen King