The condom has been known as the wetsuit, the rubber, the jimmy, and even the nightcap.
The rest of the time, the humble condom has been known by many different names, such as the male sheath, gloves, armour, the English riding coat, French letter and machine. 3208 Safety can be fun advertisement for safe sex, Marco Pellanda.
Early condoms were fashioned of linen, sheep gut, or fish bladder, and used with ointments and medicinal solutions. In early 19th century America, condoms remained linked to the “sporting life” to prevent venereal disease. Coded names for condoms included baudruches, French letters, safes, armour, and machines.
Animal gut condom, early 19th Century. Ancient Japanese men used a sheath made of tortoise shell—yes, tortoise shell—to cover the tip of the penis. Leather alternatives were available, you know, when the tortoise shell was getting uncomfortable.
The Australian division of Dunlop Rubber began manufacturing condoms in the 1890s.
Prior to the 1820s, condoms enjoyed a long history, not so much as contraceptive devices, but as a means to prevent the transmission of disease. The late 18th century saw the establishment of two shops in London devoted entirely to the sale of condoms.
Although condoms played a vital role in the 1960's and 70's in protection from sexually transmitted diseases, like syphilis and gonorrhoea, the main use of the condom remained for contraception purposes.
The U.S. Military highly encouraged the men to use condoms during sexual intercourse, concerned that servicemen would bring home diseases and infect their wives. Government training films urged soldiers, "Don't forget - put it on before you put it in."
After the World War II, condom sales continued to grow. From 1955–1965, 42% of Americans of reproductive age relied on condoms for birth control. In Britain from 1950–1960, 60% of married couples used condoms.
The Oldest Methods
Around 1850 B.C. Egyptian women mixed acacia leaves with honey or used animal dung to make vaginal suppositories to prevent pregnancy. The Greeks in the 4th century B.C. used natural ointments made with olive and cedar oil as spermicides. A popular Roman writer advocated abstinence.
He then began producing all sorts of rubber products, including condoms. Around the 1840s, as more rubber products were produced the price of condoms fell and their popularity skyrocketed to the point that condoms began being called “rubbers.”
“Un préservatif” is a condom.
Romans and Greeks reportedly favored animal bladders as their method of contraception. Over in Japan, leather and tortoise shells were used to protect a man's member (though we wonder how well the recipient fared), while in China a slightly gentler cover—oiled silk paper—was used.
In the 1500s, Japanese men wore condoms made from tortoise shells and animal horns. Other materials included oiled paper and animal intestines and bladders. Sexy! The Italian scientist Gabriele Falloppio, for whom the Fallopian tubes are named, invented a linen condom to combat a syphilis epidemic.
On a daily basis, however, they had to use animal bladders. One of the main studies that describe the use of animal intestines as a condom is the work of Aine Collier entitled “The Humble Little Condom”.
Companies stopped calling their condoms condoms and instead used euphemisms like rubber safes, caps, and gentlemen's rubber goods.
The humble condom — a U.S. soldier's companion for a hot night out on leave since the military began issuing them in the 1930s as a barrier against infection. But for decades many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines often used condoms as field-expedient fixes when other solutions weren't found in the manual.
Women would soak sponges or cotton in lemon juice and insert them into their vaginas. It would both act as a barrier to the cervix and as a spermicide. Rumor has it that Casanova, the famous Venetian ladies' man of the 18th century, would fashion a cervical cap out of half a lemon to use with his sex partners.
The earliest forms of birth control, as well as abortion, were found in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as far back as 1850 BC. Papyrus scrolls were found to contain directions on how to make birth control, using honey, acacia leaves, and also lint as a form of cervical cap to prevent sperm from entering the womb.
Lemons. It's said that the lovers of the famous lothario Giacomo Casanova used lemon rinds as a natural cervical cap. This was back in the 1700s when contraceptive options were scarce.
How to buy condoms. There is no age restriction or prescription required to buy condoms. People might feel awkward going into the aisles of a grocery store to find a condom brand (or even look around at a few options) before purchasing one.
Meant as an alternative to the condom, it was invented by Danish MD Lasse Hessel and designed to be worn internally by the woman during vaginal sex to prevent exposure to semen or other body fluids. His invention was launched in Europe in 1990 and approved by the FDA for sale in the US in 1993.
Condom use surged, with 42% of sexually active people between 1955-1965 relying on them for birth control. Widespread use of penicillin and the contraceptive pill saw condom use plummet until the '80s and the emergence of AIDS.