The final installment of the History of Technology and Science lecture series may be its most provocative.

Rachel Maines, author of “The Technology of Orgasm,” will be giving a lecture titled “Vibrators and Viagra: The Double Standard in Sexual Technologies” tonight.

Maines will speak at 8 p.m. in the Gallery of the Memorial Union. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

Maines’ lecture, the fourth and final in the series, will provide a great finish for the lecture series aimed at exploring issues in science and technology, said Pat Miller, Committee on Lectures director.

“This lecture is definitely the most ‘different;’ it serves as an interesting end of the year,” she said.

Maines began her research on sexual technology two decades ago.

“Back in 1977, I was doing research on the history of American needle work. I looked at a lot of early women’s magazines and found several vibrator ads. This was interesting to me because the ads appeared very early on,” Maines said. “I wanted to know more.”

Maines said she has traveled to many colleges and universities across the country as well as internationally. She recently has given speeches at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Toronto.

“I enjoy speaking to college audiences very much. [Students] are not stuffy; they laugh and ask great questions. They also think about it,” she said.

Maines said she began studying the dichotomy of sexual technology between genders after she discovered some current magazines refused to run vibrator ads.

“I got the idea for focusing on the double standard after being approached by the individual that runs the factory that makes the vibrator endorsed by Dr. Ruth. He was in America trying to buy advertising in upscale women’s magazines, and they would not sell him space,” she said.

The magazines that refused vibrator ads did accept Viagra ads, however, Maines said.

“These same magazines advertise Viagra all the time. He was told that their reasoning was ‘Viagra helps men to have sex with women while a vibrator helps a woman have sex with herself; we can’t support that.’ That, to me, is a double standard,” she said.

Maines also said Viagra TV commercials are often seen while vibrators are not advertised on American television before midnight, “unless it’s one of those sleazy talk shows.”

Jill Bystydzienski, professor of women’s studies, said there are definitely double standards in all technological fields.

“Just look at Iowa State. A majority of the science-related positions are held by males. Look at who is developing the technology and who is applying that technology — males hold most of those positions,” she said.

Bystydzienski said she thought male dominance within scientific fields can be changed, though.

“With more women doing science, the field will be changed and may become more ‘user-friendly.’ Globally, it is important to provide women with greater access to economic resources,” she said.

Maines said her lectures usually have three core sections.

“I like to give a short history of my research because a lot of people wonder about that. Also, I will discuss a bit of the history of disorders associated with vibrators, mainly hysteria, and I will present some of my own theories concerning why women use vibrators,” she said.