Historical story

Magic herbs, animal intestines and horns, latex condoms - contraceptive wonders from the Middle Ages to the 20th century

Natural decoctions, spicy elixirs, properly prepared faeces ... the contraceptives used by our ancestors from ancient times were shocking. Though sometimes really effective.


Medieval methods of temptation

Commandments and principles, dogmas of faith, specific morality and piety. Medieval philosophy may have influenced the way people think about the erotic zone of human life, but physical contraception was also used in practice. Despite the fact that during the Middle Ages, measures to avoid pregnancy were considered highly immoral by the church.

The women therefore used intermittent intercourse which was effective albeit risky. It is also customary to insert the lily root and rue into the vagina. The plant originating in Eastern Europe (especially in the Balkan territories) was supposed to stop fertilization, although some women believed that the smell of rue additionally attracted admirers. Apparently, women who wanted to marry wore wreaths decorated with this herbal material.

In the Middle Ages, efforts were also made to protect against unwanted pregnancies. Some methods were… shocking though!

More invasive contraceptives were also known and practiced in the Middle Ages. For example, women were told to swallow live wasps to protect yourself from becoming pregnant. In some principalities in today's Germany, the practice of using beeswax discs was practiced . Men were advised to drink decoctions from ground testes of farm animals, most often mule or bull as well as trying herbal tinctures, for example from mint or juniper. Methods constituting an additional contrast to the sacrifice of women for whom pregnancy was associated with a risk not only related to health. Because the most common cause of death among the fair sex was pregnancy . Life could bring joy, but also lethal.

The Far East and the secrets of the human body

Not only Christian priests, but also representatives of other religious systems, argued that the drives can be controlled. In India, Buddhist monks tried to convince people to practice a method called vajroli-mudra, which consisted of practiced in the process of meditation, fully consciously reducing or closing the lumen of the fallopian tubes . The body as a kind of temple is the basis of Hathayoga, a variety of classical yoga, the first mention of which appeared in the first century AD in the pages of Ithihasa, the Sanskrit epic.

Interestingly, it was Asians who were peculiar precursors in medicine based on hormone research. About 2,000 years ago, the Chinese tried to separate female hormones by gradual, methodical evaporation of female urine . Modern scientists operate on a very similar principle - though, of course, using a completely different technology. Urine, which contains mineral salts, was also used for massage and as an effective wound healing agent. Young girls living in the territory of the Japanese and Chinese empires also practiced for centuries the use of special bamboo paper discs to prevent fertilization.

A means of achieving healthy bliss? Snail shell…

The mechanical contraceptive was already known in the Kingdom of the Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptians began to look for ways not only to prevent sex from leading to pregnancy - men also tried to take care of their health by eliminating the risk of infection with venereal diseases. For this purpose, the first condoms were made of high-quality materials, just to mention silver-plated elements, but also less valuable substitutes, such as snail shells.

Contraception methods have been known since antiquity

In Asia, around the 15th century, silk condoms were used , sometimes also specially oiled paper, and sometimes also intestines pulled from a young lamb . The Japanese of that period used properly prepared shells of turtle guts or goat horns. Efforts were made to work out not only appropriate rules, but also the material quality of the tool.

Looking for perfection - Casanova condoms

In the 16th century, when all kinds of epidemics - such as syphilis - were taking their deadly toll in Europe, the art of loving began to be approached more carefully. . A little later, in the 18th century, a certain Giacomo Casanova, a well-known adventurer, traveler and writer, who in the pages of his works ("History of my life") described the use of a lambskin sheath placed on the penis. Casanova is identified today with the archetype of a lover rather than a true historical figure, yet the Venetian-born character really lived. It is ironic, however, that the cause of his death was a urinary tract infection. Because condoms weren't widely available for the next few centuries…

Latex wonder - the competition is bursting!

The first latex condom was patented at the beginning of the 20th century, precisely in 1912, by Julius Fromm, a German chemist of Polish-Jewish origin. Until then, animal intestines and fish bladders were used in the production process. And although at the end of the 19th century the latex coating was already used by Charles Goodyer, it was only Fromm's invention - a seamless, flexible form - that gained recognition in the public consciousness. A German scientist opened his first factory in 1922, promoting his products with the slogan "Die Konkurrentz platz", that is - in free translation - "Competition is bursting" .

Casanova is known for his love conquests

The history of erotic discoveries - related for example to contraception - does not end with Fromm's discovery. Through herbal medicine, the use of animal organs, to the latex form ... need is the mother of invention. And sexual desires - the impetus for experiments.

Bibliography:

  1. Węgłowski A. ‚Centuries of shamelessness. Sex and erotica in antiquity ', Znak Horyzont 2018
  2. Dolby K. 'Fascinating eroticism. History, culture and customs', Bellona 2016
  3. Bryson B. 'The body. User manual ', Profit i s-ka 2019
  4. Niżnikiewicz J. "Secrets of old medicine, magic and eroticism", Book Market 2007

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