Human beings have used and experimented with various methods of birth and fertility control since recorded history began.

Unsurprisingly, human beings have

used and experimented with various methods of birth and fertility control

since the beginning of recorded history. Furthermore, birth control’s status

as taboo, acceptable or somewhere in between the two has varied over

time and across cultures. The history of fertility control reveals that it’s a practice common to almost all times and places — and dispels the myth that birth control is a selfish demand of the modern woman.

Although the sperm cell, egg

and the intricate mechanics of reproduction would not be discovered

until the advent of tools like the microscope, it is clear that the concept of preventing the exchange of fluids was understood

and used by many ancient communities.

According to a curriculum guide

by Kathleen London at the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute called " The History of Birth

Control " (and

according to common sense, too) the most common pre-medical form of

birth control was coitus interruptus, or "pulling out," which was

frowned upon by Jewish and Catholic authorities but still used. Coitus

obstructus, which involved applying pressure to block the release of

semen, was advocated by some ancient Sanskrit texts.

But as we know today, these

methods have high failure rates, and just as today we have come up with the

pill, the patch, the ring, and multiple barrier methods, it appears

that our ancestors got quite creative in their efforts to plan their families.

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Pessaries and Cervical Caps

Perhaps the most intriguing,

bizarre and possibly effective methods for birth control were pessaries.

In London’s words:

A pessary is a vaginal

suppository used to kill sperm and/or block their passage through the

cervix. The pessary was the most effective contraceptive device used

in ancient times and numerous recipes for pessaries from ancient times

are known. Ingredients for pessaries included: a base of crocodile dung

(dung was frequently a base), a mixture of honey and natural sodium

carbonate forming a kind of gum. All were of a consistency which would

melt at body temperature and form an impenetrable covering of the cervix.

The crocodile dung pessary,

in case you were wondering, was a specialty of the ancient Egyptians who also used various

mixtures of honey, acacia, dates, carob and cotton as pessaries . In India, incidentally, the preferred

form of dung was that of the elephant. Another method used in India

was salt soaked in oil. Why these specific materials, you ask? Not only

were the consistencies right for creating a barrier, but some of these

materials such as dung had spermicidal properties.

Giovanni Giacomo Casanova,

of endless fame for his romantic prowess, encouraged his (many) lovers

to use squeezed lemon wedges as barriers, while rudimentary medical

versions of the cervical cap, from fitted rubber implements to sponges,

were used in England and America in the 19th century.

Amulets and Magic Spells

Of course, there were also

less successful and logical methods. A

paper on the history of birth control at the Planned Parenthood website (Jon Knowles is the primary author)

points out that in medieval Europe, superstition was often substituted

for even the rudimentary science.

During the Middle Ages

in Europe, magicians advised women to wear the testicles of a weasel

on their thighs or hang its amputated foot from around their necks (Lieberman,

1973). Other amulets of the time were wreaths of herbs, desiccated cat

livers or shards of bones from cats (but only the pure black ones),

flax lint tied in a cloth and soaked in menstrual blood, or the anus

of a hare. It was also believed that a woman could avoid pregnancy by

walking three times around the spot where a pregnant wolf had urinated.

And beyond the spells and patients,

one of the cruder ways communities controlled population was infanticide,

often by exposure. This practice, often aimed at girls, was so widespread

that it remains a common trope in folktales, fairytales, and ancient

literature from around the world.

The Rhythm Method

According to the Planned Parenthood

paper, "Africans and Native American women of the 17th and 18th centuries

were among the first to actually understand their fertility cycles well

enough to plan their families." Women in these societies caught onto

the idea that keeping track of their cervical mucus was one way of understanding

how fertile they were at a given time, enabling them to decide whether

or not to abstain. In the western world, it wasn’t until 50 years

ago that cervical mucus monitoring was backed up by science. In combination

with body temperature and calendar, it was integrated into the the "sympto-thermal"

method of birth control.

As for reliance on the calendar

alone, many societies have attempted some variation on "the rhythm

method" but it rarely worked. Science did not verify the proper (but

still fallible) way to use this method until the last century.

The Almighty Condom

From French cave paintings

to Egyptian art, images of condoms abound in ancient, even prehistoric

times, although whether they were used for contraceptive purposes is

unknown.

The oldest archaeological condom to be discovered, was made of lambskin and dated from the 17th

century in Scotland. Historians posit it was used to prevent STDs during

the English civil wars.

In more Casanova facts, the

famous lothario professed to using condoms made of linen. Meanwhile,

the rubber condom became widely available in the 19th century

when rubber was mass produced by – yep, the Goodyear clan.

However, it was still considered

"immoral" to distribute condoms to American WWI soldiers, and only

in WWII did the army deem that the health benefits of condoms outweighed

the risks.

Taboo or Must Do?

This is just a brief overview

of the different kinds of contraceptives used over time. But it’s

clear from their mention in several authoritative texts and widespread

use in ancient societies from India to Egypt to Europe that contraception

was not always forbidden; in fact it was often seen as necessary. Western religious

authorities have frowned on the practice as contraception appears to

run counter to biblical directives about being fruitful and multiplying – but

apparently people have been disobeying those authorities since the beginning,

too.



Kathleen

London writes that

one of the reasons abortion and birth control went from accepted folk-remedies

to taboo in the US coincided with the transfer of medical care from

women nurses, midwifes, and relatives to mostly-male doctors who were

more apt to disapprove of female sexuality. Population needs have also

had a strong influence on the "morality" of abortion and birth control-during

flush times; birth control has been discouraged when the demand for labor needs and

soldiers for armies is at its height. In times when survival was dicier, it may have been less of

a problem to limit childbearing. Today, as this site attests to, we’re

still engaged in a fight for recognition of the ethical and health benefits

of wide access to contraception.

For More Information

The above information were

gleaned from the following sources, which are just at the tip

of the iceberg when it comes to exploring the history of birth

control. Besides the methods listed above you can learn about the history

of abortifacents, douching, menstrual taboos and other traditions around

the world. And if you’re in Cleveland, be sure to visit the hall of contraception at Case Western Reserve University.

You can view:

Yale parenting class curriculum

on history of birth control, abortion and more

Planned Parenthood’s incredibly

rich history of birth control in America and around the globe

Audio lecture on birth control

in America

Article about the opening of museum

of contraception

Interview with curator of

museum of contraception