Words by Louise Jackson
The Pill. IUDs. Condoms. All modern forms of contraception that, while having faults, have been hard fought for, and are relatively safe. But these are recent inventions. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to look at some of the most upsetting forms of historical contraception.
The Sheep Gut Condom
Ranking at only slightly upsetting, is the sheep gut condom. While gross, it is only as gross as the rest of the Victorian era. The process of making a sheep gut condom was long. It involved scraping mucous membranes off the gut, and then soaking it in chemicals for days.
The condom was reusable but would have to be rehydrated before use, as its resting state was dried up and shrivelled. Victorians tied a ribbon around the top to hold it on. It was better than nothing, but certainly nothing to get excited about.
Lemons
There were two approaches to lemons as contraception. Option 1 from the Mediterranean was soaking a wad of cotton or sponge in lemon juice, and then shoving the wad up the vagina.
Option 2 was brought to us by 18th century fuck boy Casanova: a hollowed-out lemon rind inserted into the vagina as a cervical cap.
Research has subsequently shown that lemon juice acts as a natural spermicide, because its alteration of vaginal pH can kill off sperm. It also sounds like it would sting incredibly, and therefore should be left firmly in the past.
Mercury
Mercury had a wide variety of historical uses before scientists twigged that it was rather deadly. Women in Ancient China would drink a warm concoction of mercury to help prevent pregnancy. It did likely help with this, but only because it was killing of their organs at the same time.
This should absolutely not be attempted as we now know even the slightest amount of mercury poisoning can cause long-term health issues!
Crocodile Poop
Throughout the ancient world, there are records of crocodile poop contraception, the first coming from Ancient Rome and Egypt. Dried up pellets of dung were sometimes inserted into the vagina. The slightly more savoury approach involved mixing the dung with another substance to create a flexible disk to insert into the vagina. This also acted as a physical barrier.
This method had some effectiveness, again due to an altering of vaginal pH levels. Regardless of this, the idea of inserting any animal poop into the vagina makes this by far the most upsetting form of historical contraception.
On Dit 