Just google "hysterical paroxysm" in regard to what people were thinking in those times.

"In the first two decades of this century, the vibrator began to be marketed as a home appliance through advertising in such periodicals as Needlecraft, Home Needlework Journal, Modern Women, Hearst's, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, and Modern Priscilla. The device was marketed mainly to women as a health and relaxation aid, in ambiguous phrases such as "all the pleasures of youth . . . will throb within you."

Links:

1. Batteries Not Included (NY Times book review)

2. Chapter 1 of the book.