When Hitachi launched their ‘personal massager’ on 20th May, 1968, they had no idea (or so they claim) that they were about to, um, go down in sex toy history.

The Magic Wand was initially developed to relieve tension and relaxing sore muscles - but soon became celebrated as the most powerful vibrator the world had ever seen.

In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion discover how its innocent packaging helped boost sales when female masturbation was taboo, reveal the role sex educator Betty Dodson had in introducing it to the chattering classes, and consider how Apple would react today, if it was revealed that ‘rubbing an iPad on your bits felt good’...

Content Warning: Explicit content, references to genitalia.

Further Reading:

• ‘A Brief History of The Magic Wand’, Cosmopolitan (2017): https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a14105499/hitachi-magic-wand-history/

• Sam returns her ‘neck massager’ to The Sharper Image in Sex and the City (2002):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4QIO4XVPc

• Magic Wand’s official website:

https://magicwandoriginal.com/

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

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