The Hitachi Magic Wand (a.k.a. vibrator) is arguably one of the most iconic staples in any sex toy shop out there. Even beloved lesbian pop sensation Chappell Roan has sung about the wand in her iconic bop, “Red Wine Supernova.”
From sex educators like Betty Dodson and Joani Blank using it to educate the repressed masses about self-pleasure in the 1970s, to its appearance on Sex and The City raising the question of how people were really using “neck massagers,” the Hitachi has long sparked conversations about how sex can be better and more expansive. And in recent years, its likeness has been used as an irreverent symbol for good sex. (Think those magic wand and sickle memes or those recreations of classical paintings on Tumblr in the 2010s.)
The irony is that Hitachi, the company who created said wand, produces no sex toys as the Magic Wand is actually branded and sold as a “personal massager.” And where the multinational electronics conglomerate’s most-known product might be an unauthorized sex toy, Hitachi, for the most part, produces anything but when it comes to electronic machinery: aircraft engines, nuclear power systems, construction equipment, and military vehicles like literal tanks.
The Hitachi belongs to a long line of things that were never intended for queer people explicitly but were ultimately pulled into the fray and made our own, much like green carnations and monocles in the past or poppers and carabiners in the present day. LGBTQ+ people have always taken things and incorporated them into queer iconography — the Magic Wand is just one of many.
Despite its star status, the history of the Magic Wand and how it revolutionized personal sexual pleasure remains a mystery to many. Here are some fun facts about the iconic sex toy.
Originally known as just “The Hitachi,” the magic wand hit stands in 1968 as a futuristic personal massager meant to aid people with aches and pains. Because it was never intended to be a sex toy, it is not waterproof or water resistant, but that didn’t stop consumers from slowly but surely evangelizing the Magic Wand’s full potential. It hit stands just a few years before famous sexologist Betty Dodson hosted her first Bodysex Workshop, in which she taught people about self-pleasure. The wand’s open secret reputation as more than a sports massager spread through whisper networks of people who had attended the classes — and beyond.
As the personal massager’s NSFW capabilities became more widely known, sex educators of the time began working it into their lessons. Dodson bought her Magic Wand at Macy’s and quickly started encouraging people who attended her workshops to use the device as part of their self-pleasure routines. Sexual educator Joani Blank published her vibrator manual Good Vibrations in 1976 and featured a Magic Wand front and center on the cover.
During an era where sexual conservatism dominated — only 29% of people thought it was acceptable to have sex before your wedding day — the Magic Wand vibrator started to become a discrete symbol of sexual possibility and exploration.
The Magic Wand strays vastly from the kind of products that Hitachi normally produces. As a tech giant, the laundry list of products the company makes includes: hydraulic cranes, mining dump trucks, specialty steels, power grids, transformers, green energy systems, trains, auto parts, supercomputers, elevators and escalators. With nearly $70 billion in revenue in 2024 alone, the company’s ventures even stretch into military equipment like tanks and other combat infantry equipment systems.
The Wand’s lasting popularity, if not superiority, may just be a consequence of its industrial machinery roots. As it was originally marketed as a neck massager, it packs a unique punch that sets it apart from other vibrator technology. The wand’s powerful motor can go up to 6000 RPM (or revolutions per minute, which is a fancy unit of measurement for machinery like cars and vibrators) whereas other popular toys might barely crack 2000.
The only recorded time that the company explicitly nodded that it was in on the discourse was in 1992 when the company sent chocolates in the shape of Magic Wands to a sex store opening event. The Magic Wand website also sells a rainbow-flag pin and published a lengthy statement on its website about the massager’s ethos of pleasure and inclusivity for its 50th anniversary.
In 1999, Appliance Corporation of America, a small company which had been distributing Hitachi products like rice cookers and the Magic Wand, ran into cashflow problems that resulted in the tech giant stopping production on the personal massager. The lack of Hitachi Magic Wands in stores, coupled with the group demand for the de facto sex toy, led to desperate attempts from consumers to purchase the item from resellers on platforms like eBay. Ultimately, another company by the name of Vibratex stepped in and offered money in exchange for the opportunity to distribute the Magic Wand to consumers in the U.S. The partnership with Vibratex would ultimately save the Magic Wand from destruction just 12 years later.
Sex and The City was known for covering the sexual discourse of the time in its zany plotlines, so it's no surprise that they were able to work the magic wand in. In season 5 of the series, Samantha Jones purchases a “neck massager” only for it to break on her. When she marches into the appliance store to ask for a refund, she refers to the wand as a vibrator, which scandalizes the clerk. As she picks out her new neck massager, people in the store look to her for guidance as they pick out their own personal muscle-relaxing appliances. The plotline mirrored the real life conversations women and clit-havers had been having about the Magic Wand since the ’60s.
Just 12 years after Vibratex took over distribution of the Magic Wand, Hitachi decided they would stop producing it after realizing how people were using it in the U.S. In an effort to keep the iconic sex toy in stock, executives at Vibratex offered to omit Hitachi’s name from the product, according to Cosmopolitan. Rebranding the Magic Wand Original in 2013, Vibratex was able to continue distributing the Magic Wand while keeping its legacy alive.
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