Birth Control Through History

How long has birth control of one form or another been used, probably ever since people realized that sex led to pregnancy. The first written mention of the use of birth control is in the Bible. Genesis Chapter 38, Verse 9 states "...and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother." Italics are in the Bible. Therefore, the first recorded use of birth control was the withdrawal method.

Because the withdrawal method is so unreliable, other methods needed to be found if a couple wanted to control their family size. Breastfeeding is a natural form of birth control that may or may not have been realized as such. However, it was only effective for one to three years. Because a woman is fertile for over 30 years, breastfeeding alone can lead to several pregnancies. Breastfeeding is still used today to help in spacing children, and is reliable for a short time.

In ancient times women used a variety of things to either block or kill sperm. These included things like crocodile or elephant dung, fermented dough, tree gums, mixtures of honey and sodium carbonate, tampons soaked in a variety of herbs and fruit juices, and condoms made from linen, snake skins, or animal intestines.

It is not known for sure if the condoms were initially used for birth control, to prevent transmission of diseases, or for rituals. Condoms have been made out of a variety of materials over the years. As was stated previously, the first condoms were made of linen or animal intestines. They have also been made out of horn, tortoise shell, leather, and vulcanized rubber. Condoms have been made as sheathes to cover the entire penis or as caps to be held on with the foreskin. The earliest drawing of a condom is from about 3,000 years ago, which was found in Egypt. The oldest condom ever found was in the foundations of Dudley Castle near Birmingham in England. These condoms were made from fish and animal intestines. They date back to the 1640's and possibly were used during the war between Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.

Blocking the sperm was not only done with condoms. Women from several areas over the world have used different things to block the sperm and to prevent pregnancy. Along with the crocodile dung, which was placed inside the woman's vagina, other items such as a half of a lemon have been used to cover the cervix and at the same time kill the sperm. Oiled paper, beeswax, and sea sponges soaked in vinegar, or lemon juice has all been used at one time or another. All of these forms of birth control worked to some extent by either blocking the sperm, killing it, or both.

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