A professor in upstate New York has a unique "area" of study - vibrators.
Rachel Maines is a visiting scholar at Cornell University where she's touting her new book, "Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator and Women's Sexual Satisfaction."
Yep, you guessed it, Maines is a feminist.
In an interview with the Ithacan Online the author revealed some of her research and certainly put my fears to bed that tuition dollars aren't being wildly mis-spent…
According to the article, the book is about how physicians used to massage women to orgasm in order to treat them for hysteria – now come on, who can’t see the educational benefit in this scholarly work.
When asked if she would label her new book "feminist literature," Maines said, "Oh, absolutely. I’m definitely a feminist author, and this is a feminist book, trust me. It’s all about how we wouldn’t have needed this supposed treatment for this supposed hysteria if we didn't have an androcentric definition for sexuality, in which penetration is considered to be the most important thing, right? That’s what real sex is supposed to be - except that only a minority of women reach orgasm that way. So the rest of them, the other 70 percent, the majority, were very frustrated."
Men - who needs 'em?!
The author went on to describe the various topics within her book that she would be sharing with an audience later that night.
Not all of Maines' work is on vibrators…(you know what I mean - keep it clean).
She's published another book titled "Asbestos and Fire" that details technological trade-offs. And she's currently working on a book called "Hedonizing Technologies."
Near the end of the Maines interview the Ithacan Online, I couldn't help but think – given the subject matter of the story – that the last exchange between the report and the author contained a number of sexually implied references or double-entendres. Now, I could be wrong, but, if so, they should really be more careful about the words they choose when dealing with such a "sensual" subject.
Ithacan Online: "Are you excited about the talk, do you like giving talks like this?"
Maines: "Oh I always enjoy it. I do quite a bit of it, especially during Women’s History Month, of course, and this will be my third this month. But I always enjoy it."
Remember folks, your tuition dollars are helping to fund this "scholarly" work.
