Evolution of Birth Control in 19th Century

The Evolution of Birth Control in the 19^th Century

Dating all the way back to 3000 B.C., humans have tried to find a way to stop the seed from evolving into another human being through sexual reproduction. Even though some people and places have different standards and cultures, humans have been pursuing this idea of protection for a very long time. Before vulcanized rubber came into play in 1838, humans were experimenting with animal intestines, fish bladders, and even cheap linen to try and develop a version of our modern day condom[1]. Looking back at history, the most important and revolutionary event that involved birth control was the passing of the Comstock Law in 1873. With the passing of this law, birth control and any contraceptive or obscene devices were illegal to be transported through the mail. This caused a lot of things to change but before I delve deeper into that, I want to look further back into the time of the Industrial Revolution.  During this time, contraceptive devices were being used widely all throughout the U.S. Ranging from pessaries, small devices that women would stick in their vaginas to block sperm, all the way to herbs used for Abortions. Although most of the tactics that people were using were seen as barbaric today, they were seen as quite normal back then. After the invention of the vulcanized rubber for condoms, the whole contraceptive industry exploded and new more sophisticated devices were made such as intrauterine devices, vaginal sponges, cervical caps, and even male caps, which were simply condoms that covered just the head of the penis. All of these inventions completely revolutionized the way people were having sex and even British playwright George Bernard Shaw said the condom was “the greatest invention of the 19^th century”[2] Although things seemed progressive for a while and contraceptives were accepted, things quickly changed in 1873 when the Comstock Law outlawed the passing of any of these devices through the mail. Since most companies saw this as a harm to their business and profits, they decided to do something unique. Since losing profit wasn’t an option, the companies simply began to re-label their products as “hygiene” products. Although they

maintained the same general properties as before, they were now being labeled to prevent germs instead of sperm and sexual penetration. In fact the most popular form of contraception between 1930 and 1960 was the Lysol Douche, which was supposively approved by European doctors, who later were proved to be non-existent. In conclusion, the evolution of birth control in the 19^th century was pretty progressive and a lot of new devices completely revolutionized the way we look at sex and the way sex was performed.

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[1] Thompson, Kirsten. Boston Women's Health Book Collective, "Our Bodies Ourselves: Birth Control." Accessed March 30, 2014. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=18&compID=53.

[2] Daniel , DeNoon. Medicinenet.com, "MedicineNet." Last modified 08 06, 2001. Accessed March 30, 2014. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51170.