Believe it or not, sex toys weren’t invented by Sex and the City. In fact, the first evidence of sex toys dates back 30,000 years, and there are records and depictions of sex toy use in ancient Greece and Rome. There’s nothing quite that antique in Babeland‘s Vintage Vibrator Museum, but you’ll find plenty of examples from the early 1900s. The first mechanical vibrators showed up in Britain and the U.S. during the late 19th century, where they were used to treat hysteria (literally, “womb disease”), which was considered the most common “disorder” among women; its symptoms were mental and emotional distress, thought to be brought on by the womb’s revolt against sexual deprivation. By some estimates, as many as three-quarters of all women suffered from this “hysteria,” and, in fact, mention of the ailment can be found as early as 4 BC. And no, they didn’t call them sex toys back then — nor did any of the devices even remotely resemble a bunny rabbit.
