The first man/woman-made birth control device known to history was developed in ancient Egypt centuries, at least, before the birth of Christ. It was called a “pessary” and consisted of herbs, grasses, honey and, the main ingredient, crocodile dung. It was inserted into a woman’s vagina prior to intercourse and…IT WORKED. The reason for its effectiveness as a birth control device is the fact that crocodile dung is very acidic and acts as a spermicidal compound.
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| Crocodile dung is very acidic. |
Historians speculate that the first birth control device used by early women was a small pebble or stone that fit in the vagina and acted as an early form of diaphragm. In ancient Rome a famous physician named Soranus of Ephesus advised women to cough aggressively, jump up and down, and sneeze as hard as possible in order to expel sperm from the body. This was, and is, inaccurate, though there are some who still believe that jumping up and down immediately after intercourse will prevent pregnancy.
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| A pebble, the first birth control device? |
In ancient Greece doctors advised women to cut a small pomegranate in half, scoop out the seeds, and insert it into the vagina as an early form of “cervical cap.” In ancient Rome, Persia and Syria, sea sponges were soaked in such things as perfumed vinegar water, alcohol, quinine, carbolic acid or iodine and inserted to provide an effective spermicide.
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| Sea sponges were used as a birth control device in ancient times. |
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| Lemons were used as a spermicide. |
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| Casanova called his romantic sheaths "English overcoats." |
The sheaths soon came in a standard 8” length, and Fallopius insisted that the devices had been tested on over 1000 men “with complete success.” The slang term for this early version of the condom was an “overcoat.” Casanova supposedly called his sheaths “English overcoats.” This device was invented without a thought as to its implications for women and birth control. Its purpose was to protect men from becoming infected by unclean women. There was an epidemic of syphilis raging through Europe and the newly discovered Americas in the 1500s. This helped popularize the use of the new device. It could save the life of the man who used it. Again, no thought given to the health of a woman. If SHE had the disease she was considered "unclean" and deserving of her suffering.
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| A dried condom before being soaked in water in order to be used. |
By 1800, condoms made of sheep gut were in common use - they were purchased in a dried state and had to be soaked in water to regain their flexibility in order to be functional. After being used, they were removed, cleaned and reused until they developed either cracks or tears. Legend has it the word “condom” originated with the royal physician to King Charles II in mid-17th century England. The King was notorious for his huge number of mistresses and his personal physician, a Dr. Condom, developed an oiled sheath of sheep’s intestine to help protect the King from contracting syphilis. Thus, “overcoats” became known as “condoms.”
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| King Charles II of England. |
It is said that Dr. Condom (spelled “Condon” in some versions of the story) disliked the fact that his name had become so closely associated with this device, and discouraged anyone from calling it a “condom.” In any event, they were not very popular because they were thick and interfered with the sexual stimulation men felt during intercourse.
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| Charles Goodyear |
Finally, in the 1870s, a condom made of vulcanized rubber appeared (thank you Charles Goodyear!). It still was not as thin, or intended to be disposable, but it created the popular slang term for the condom used widely today, a “rubber.” A man using one of these new devices was instructed to wash his rubber both before and after intercourse, and reuse it until it wore out The thinner, modern latex rubber condoms commonly used today were not introduced until the 1930s.
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| Joseph Priestly |
Digression: Where does the word "rubber" come from?
In the 18th century the English chemist and scientist Joseph Priestly got a sample of a mysterious, soft but solid substance. A globe-trotter friend of his had brought back some of it from his travels in Central America. Priestly became interested in the substance and started experimenting with it. He noted that when you "rubbed" this substance on paper that had been written upon with a lead pencil, the lead marks disappeared. So, he called it “rubber”, and we still do to this day. However, that thing on the end of your pencil is called an “eraser” in the U.S., whereas in England it is called a “rubber.” The term “rubber” has an entirely different meaning to people in the United States. In England, a student will think nothing of asking a classmate to borrow his or her “rubber.” What a stir a statement like that would make in a U.S. classroom.
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| The lead pencil with an attached "rubber", or eraser, was first produced in 1858 in the U.S.. |
Now, back to our story:
Religious groups and public morality and decency organizations denounced the use of rubbers, labeling them both immoral and “obscene.” The U.S. Postal Service seized more than 65 thousand of these supposedly obscene devices during the 1880s in New York City alone. This set the stage for the work of public health nurse and women’s rights advocate Margaret Sanger in the second decade of the 20th century, and for her struggle to give women control over their own bodies, sexuality and decisions concerning motherhood.
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| Margaret Sanger. She watched her mother work herself to death raising eleven children. |
To bring this brief tale to an end, I always wondered why a number condoms have names associated with history. "Ramses" (famous Egyptian Pharaoh, who clashed with both God and Moses)? "Trojans" (from Homer's The Iliad, a reference to the people of Troy and the Trojan War)? "Rough Riders" (Theodore Roosevelt and the Spanish-American War)? Just wondering.
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| Pharaoh Ramses II gives his name to a popular brand of condom. |
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FINIS.
FINIS.