Rachel Maines
Technology Historian
Rachel Maines is a visiting scientist in the Cornell University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her principal research interests lie in the history of technology, especially issues relating to technology and the body, such as sexuality, medicine, technological risk, and injury epidemiology. She is the author of three books: "The Technology of Orgasm: 'Hysteria,' Vibrators, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction" (1999), "Asbestos and Fire: Technological Tradeoffs and the Body at Risk" (2005), and her most recent, "Hedonizing Technologies: Pathways to Pleasure in Hobbies and Leisure," published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2009.
Historian of technology Rachel Maines explains the most fascinating insight to emerge from her current research.
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The “Hedonizing Technologies” author wouldn’t bet against it. Ironing, she says, is already a sport.
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3 min
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Activities that were once functional—from gardening to brewing—have become recreational in advanced societies. The author of “Hedonizing Technologies” explains why.
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5 min
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How common is vibrator use among women, men, and societies worldwide? Has this segment of the market been hurt (or stimulated) by the recession?
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3 min
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The “Technology of Orgasm” author recounts the outrageous history of female genital “manipulators,” from water-powered turbines to the contraption called the Chattanooga.
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7 min
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And did the doctors who claimed to “treat” it by inducing orgasm know better? Rachel Maines reveals the truth behind the historical rumors.
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8 min
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When Rachel Maines first published a history of the vibrator (“The Technology of Orgasm”), she “expected it to derail [her] career, and it did.” But even she wasn’t prepared for […]
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