Self-care is having a moment. Women especially are more stressed than ever and we’re finally taking the time to talk about the importance of slowing down, de-stressing, and taking time for self-care physically, mentally, and emotionally.
But behind the aromatherapy candles and meditation apps, the most buzzworthy part of self-care is almost absurdly obvious: self-pleasure!
A recent survey found that almost 80% of women consider self-pleasure as a crucial element of self-care. Unsurprisingly, as many as 80% of adult women own at least one vibrator.
It’s not the first time the health benefits of the vibrator have been the talk of the town. In the 1880s, Victorian women were being diagnosed with “hysteria,” a diagnosis that included anxiety, irritability, sexual desire, and most tellingly, “a tendency to cause trouble for others.” Sigh. Victorian times were… really something.
The cure for this troublesome condition? Physicians inducing “paroxysm,” which we would now call a good old-fashioned clitoral orgasm.
You’ll be not so shocked to know that patients lined up around the block for this paroxysm and sometimes requested several times, just to make sure they were good and cured. It became so taxing on the physicians that they started using electrically powered vibrators to keep their patients good and un-hysterical. Just in case!
After hysteria was debunked (thanks, Freud), the vibrator laid low until the sexual revolution of the 1960s. But as women embraced the vibrator and self-pleasure as an enriching part of their daily lives, the vibrator was relegated to sex shops that were largely uninviting to women. They were marketed to men, commodifying the sexual experience of women for the male gaze. Closer… but not quite there!
Fast forward to today, there’s a revolution to reclaim the idea of self-pleasure as self-care. This is what lead to the creation of Dott— women-lead, women-owned, and designed with pleasure first and foremost. It is inclusive, body positive, feminist, and believes in the restorative power of vibration massage for relaxation, relief, energizing, and empowering!