Technology And The Sexual Revolution

The internet really is a wonderful thing and has completely revolutionised human sexual behaviour in recent years, without a doubt claims our guest autrher Susannah Perez who is a social commentator and enjoys blogging about a number of controversial topics. She is a lingerie expert, writes about sex and relationships and enjoys a close collaboration with popular UK lingerie retailer, Delicates. We hope that Susannah will soon become a specialist contributor to our sister site all about ladies underwear fashion with articles about her specialist subject lingerie.

I know what you’re all thinking. Yes, pron has played a part in the modern sexual revolution, but I’m not just talking about pron here. The internet has offered so much more to sexual evolution than just an abundance of free pornography.

Pron is now the biggest possible sexual melting pot known to man, with a ‘scene’ to suit every taste and desire. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the prominent presence of pron in the media has fundamentally conditioned our sexual desires.

We as a species are tremendously affected by media and social influences. Sex and the City made it OK in the nineties for independent single women to sleep around and use vibrators, which they paid for with their independently earned salaries. With Ann Summers now being a high street name, as familiar as Topshop, Debenhams or Clinton Cards, most women will admit to owning or having owned a vibrator at some point in their lives. Now there’s a technological marvel right there.

Female Hysteria: There’s an app for that

What you may not know, is that the vibrator was actually the fifth electrical home appliance ever to be made. In fact, something else you may not know is that doctors used to administer orgasms to female patients to cure them of ‘hysteria’.

making the vibrator the 5th home electrical appliance, coming ten years at least before the first vacuum cleaner!

Yup, that’s right. Doctors in the Victorian era would treat female patients who suffered from anxiety, frustration or depression by manually bringing them to orgasm (known then as Hysterical Paroxysm). A machine was brought in to do the job after many doctors complained of aching wrists and hands. This machine was a steam powered mechanism called the ‘Manipulator’. I kid you not. In 1902, the first electric vibrator was fashioned and released for public sale, therefore making it the 5th home electrical appliance, coming ten years at least before the first vacuum cleaner!

Behold an advertisement for the device in the New York Tribune, May 1913

Like I said, technology has worked wonders for human sexuality. Today, the link between technology and sex is even more inextricable due to the prominence of computers, internet, cellular phones and all the associated apps.

Spend a few short minutes browsing one of the thousands of online adult retailers and you can find yourself with a new wardrobe of sexy lingerie and a box full of adult toys that you’re not under any obligation to share with any one man.

The day of personal ads for ‘friendship and possibly more’ are also long gone, leaving a trail of thousands of ‘hook-up’ websites in their wake where men and women ‘meet’, exchange pictures and arrange meetings for casual sex. Of course we have the likes of E Harmony and Match.com that are there for people to find love and commitment; but the number of casual sex networking sites is considerably higher.

Free to share

If you spend a while perusing blogs, you will find that a shockingly high proportion of them have some association with sex. Sex blogs are hugely popular, as places to write anonymously about sex, ask for advice, post tips, pictures and videos to your heart’s content.

I came across a Tumblr blog by a woman in Chicago who began by posting a naked picture of herself each day with her iphone. She always covered her face and has thus remained anonymous. She expressed a particular interest in yay-anal toys and started posting pictures of herself wearing these toys. She now makes a living from sponsorship of a popular butt plug brand. She has over 50 000 followers and is able to make recommendations, write/film sex toy reviews and has generally built an empire round her sexuality and willingness to share.

It would have been quite impossible to imagine this sort of thing only a few years ago. We don’t live in the prudish world we once did. We tend to want to ‘share’ everything instantaneously either via a blog, a social network or photo sharing network.

Remember the furore caused by Lady Chatterley’s Lover? The poetic depictions of the sexual encounters and some uses of ‘unprintable words’ sparked a huge controversy that resulted in the publishers being tried under the Obscene Publications act.

Well today, graphic sex stories written and illustrated by women are ten a penny online. And no one bats an eyelid. How things have changed in only fifty years...

As a woman, I would take a moment to note that new-technology’s relationship with sexuality has been a very freeing one for women. There has been a cyber sexual revolution, bigger even than the sexual revolution sparked by the introduction of the pill in the sixties.

A bold statement, I know.

Discuss.

Susannah Perez is a social commentator and enjoys blogging about a number of controversial topics. She is a lingerie expert, writes about sex and relationships and enjoys a close collaboration with popular UK lingerie retailer, Delicates.