Oh, yah, it was developed by their medical equipment division. Also patented as a massager and was registered with the FDA as such. Then people realized what else it could do.

The really funny part is that hitachi’s main business is heavy industry stuff; power plants, cranes, electrical infrastructure, jet fighters, trains, semiconductors, all sorts of stuff. But everyone knows them for that one time they made a massager that everyone uses as a sex toy.

[–] AuroraB@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

They used to make great hdds, but they sold that part to western digital

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

Haha, sort of, but also kind of the other way around.

According to historian Rachel Maines, physicians provided pelvic massages for thousands of years to female patients without it being considered erotic or sexually stimulating. After the Western Industrial Revolution, physicians began using electric machines in medicine, including the medical vibrator, which researchers theorize was used to more efficiently bring women to a hysterical paroxysm, the former medical term for a female orgasm.

https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/medical-vibrators-treatment-female-hysteria

The whole article is a trip. Medicine didn't even recognize that external massage could cause pleasure to women until the late 1800s.

Hydrotherapy treatment involved the pelvic douche, which was an apparatus that originated in France during the mid 1800s. Hydrotherapy spas were located in European-style bathhouses and spas, and treatment involved aiming a powerful jet of water at a woman’s inner thighs and genitals. Health specialists claimed the device could cause hysterical paroxysm in under four minutes.

Truly amazing how much people care about the female orgasm when it's about fixing crazy broads and not about pleasure. Honestly, good on them for keeping quiet for so long.

[–] spider@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 4 days ago

It was originally manufactured for relieving tension and relaxing sore muscles; however, it is most known for its use as a sex toy.

[–] rumschlumpel 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

They are very powerful vibrators, which is exactly what makes them good for massages. Main downside is that the muscles that most people would want to massage (back, shoulders, neck) are kind of hard to reach when you try to use it on yourself.