When I was a little girl, I loved to wander through airport shops and was always bewildered by small vibrators I saw on sale showing women using the device to massage their backs. Eventually, I grew up and learned what women were really using vibrators for….

But my childhood shopping experiences prepared me for the play In Next Room, by Sarah Ruhl, who is a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist. The play takes place in the late 19th century, and centers around women who were given electric vibratory massage for symptoms of hysteria in the doctor’s office. Tightly corseted, modest ladies experienced a strong sensual and sexual awakening while in the next room their husbands waited for them. The “vibrating sensations” affected their relationships with their husbands and others.

Although the play makes fun of Victorian conventions and sexual naiveté, even today we may find ourselves separating our true sensual feelings from ourselves and/or the man we love. Luckily, we don’t have to see a doctor to get a vibrator and can use them for self-love or couple-love.

This month SuzyKnew is pleased to feature My FixSation, the ultimate vibrator for couples.