Amazing History of Condoms | Aug 17, 2007 |
The condom is a device with long and quite amazing history. Our forefathers as well as we did not always make love in order to have children, so they made up some methods of contraception.
Ancient were made of materials that were far from being perfect. For instance, there were condoms made out of intestines of animals. Just imagine this picture: a loving couple enjoys incredibly tender foreplay and then stops to put on the penis something made of intestines. Poor, poor ancient men! They had to suffer a lot for the sake of love!
One of the oldest condoms is exhibited in London museums. The antiquarian contraceptive was made about 350 years ago. It was made out of intestines of an animal and it was to be soaked in milk before use for softening. This interesting specimen was found during diggings in one of towers.
Ancient Arabians turned out to be very inventive. They were the first to introduce some novelties for sex. Archaeologists have found only cases for penis that were adorned with gems. These cases were buried together with the corpse of the man. Can you imagine what were Arabian contraceptives like?
According to other sources the first condom was made of leather and it was used by none other but pharaoh Tutankhamen. In fact no one knows whether Egyptians used such devices for contraception as Egyptian condoms were adorned with gems. Probably men used these devices to compare their manhoods.
Also there is a indirect evidence of the fact that Egyptians did not use these devices as a method of contraception: to prevent pregnancy ancient Egyptian women used special tampons soaked with juice of acacia and even crocodile's dung!
At the same time Japanese invented a similar device that was made of soft leather. It was called “kavagata”.
In the Renaissance a famous doctor Fallopio described use of fabric as an analogue of condoms. At that time epidemic of syphilis raged in Europe and doctors tried to fight it by all possible means.
There are rumors that the famous lover Casanova preferred to make love only with armor on the manhood. Of course, manufacturing of condoms was not so active in the 18th century, but it did exist. The condoms were very expensive, but nothing could prevent Casanova from getting sexual pleasures.
Traditional condoms appeared only with the invention of rubber and only in the 19th century. These condoms were similar to those we use today.
Modern people are much happier than ancient people. Today any person can choose a condom he or she likes, as there are colored, flavored and textured that do not only protect from infections but provide extra pleasure as well. There are even vibrating condoms that are a method of contraception and a sex toy simultaneously.
We have a very large choice, so why not to choose safer sex?
Facts
About 5 000 000 000 condoms are sold yearly in the world
More than 50 percent of condoms are bought by women
There are more than 100 condom brands in the market.
