A Brief History of the Condom by Kathleen Bitner Roth

Welcome back to History Undressed, our regular first Tuesday blogger and author, Kathleen Bittner Roth! Today she's taking us on a fascinating little jaunt with the history of condoms!

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONDOM

by Kathleen Bitner Roth

Condoms show up in contemporary romance novels these days as an integral part of the love scene. The term “No glove, no love,” seems to appear everywhere. As it turns out, my research on the condom indicates that we’ve been chanting little mantras like that for thousands of years.  

The Grotte des Combarrelles Caves in France have paintings on the walls dating back to 11,000 BC showing the use of condoms. As far back as the 1400’s the Chinese used condoms made of oiled silk paper or lamb intestines. In the 1500’s an Italian physician tested linen sheaths dried in chemicals on a few hundred men. Not one man tested contracted what was at the time a fatal disease. The good doctor pretty much saved the lives of those lusty Italian men at a time when syphilis ran rampant. 

Historians have come to the conclusion that even though condoms in one form or another have been in use for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the early 1600’s when people figured out that the condom not only prevented disease, it also prevented pregnancy. A Catholic theologian, Leonardus Lessius, condemned the condom as immoral, saying it not only prevented birth, it also encouraged men to become immoral—curiously, that debate goes on today in some churches and sectors.

Came the Renaissance and animal intestines and bladders treated with lye or sulpher were added to the linen variety which were treated with chemicals. This turned out to be much better than the Dutch who used leather condoms that covered the entire penis providing for little sensation. Or what about the Japanese who used animal horns over the glans? Ouch! 

At any rate, the argument that the use of condoms was immoral and sinful raged on while use of the condom grew in popularity. By the 1700’s, they came in various sizes and shapes and were being sold in pubs, theaters, markets and other public places throughout Europe and Russia. Unfortunately, they were often rinsed out and reused and oftentimes lent to a friend or two which did nothing to prevent the spread of disease. By the early 1800’s, for the first time, promotion of contraceptives to the lower classes took place.

Eventually, the use of the condom found its way to America, but they were expensive, so at first they were was used only by the upper class. More and more people began to advocate for birth control however, and in 1839 Charles Goodyear invented the rubber condom. It was thick and heavy at the time and didn’t provide for much sensation to the male, but it did prevent disease and pregnancy. 

Ironically, Feminists of this time period wholly disapproved of the condom. They wanted birth control to be organized and controlled only by women. Today, both partners are held responsible.

In the latter part of the 1800’s, the German military began promoting condom use for their soldiers.  In 1912 a German chemist, Dr. Fromm, developed a new method in the manufacture of the condom that gave it texture and was thin enough to give the male the best sensation of anything made to date. The condom he developed was called Fromm’s Act, and the product is still being manufactured. In fact, the brand is one of the most popular condom brands sold in Germany today.

Around 1920 the sales of condoms doubled worldwide, and in 1927, the American military began distributing condoms to soldiers as standard issue. Lo and behold, soldiers soon discovered many uses for the condom. They used them to cover rifle barrels and muzzles as a waterproofing method; they waterproofed underwater demolition with them and stored corrosive materials in them. 

In 1957 lubricated condoms came on the market. Until then, jelly products were used. When the AIDS epidemic hit in the 1980’s condom sales skyrocketed. Today, condoms are the most popular form of contraception and protection from sexually transmitted disease.

Kathleen Bittner Roth thrives on creating passionate stories featuring characters who are forced to draw on their strength of spirit to overcome adversity and find unending love. Her own fairy tale wedding in a Scottish castle led her to her current residence in Budapest, Hungary, considered one of Europe’s most romantic cities. However, she still keeps one boot firmly in Texas and the other in her home state of Minnesota. A member of Romance Writers of America®, she was a finalist in the prestigious Golden Heart® contest. Find Kathleen on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Pinterest and www.kathleenbittnerroth.com.

THE SEDUCTION OF SARAH MARKS is book one in Those Magnificent Malvern series: When a proper Victorian miss awakens next to a handsome stranger, she must rely on the man's benevolence as she struggles to regain her memory and hold onto her heart. BUY LINK

PORTRAIT OF A FORBIDDEN LADY is book two in Those Magnificent Malvern series and is due to release in May 2016 (cover not yet available): A young widow returns to her childhood home after a forced absence and faces her first and only love, but despite their powerful attraction, danger compels her to remain his forbidden lady. 

CELINE, book one in the When a Heart Dares series, is on sale now! BUY LINK

Seven Steps to Folding Your Own Condom by Linda Lee Graham

Today on History Undressed, I am very excited to introduce to you our guest author, Linda Lee Graham. She's written us a truly entertaining, fascinating historical article!! Take notes! Also don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win an ebook copy of Linda's book, Voices Beckon. Enjoy!

Seven Steps to Folding Your Own Condom

by Linda Lee Graham

Known as redingotes d’Anglaise (English raincoats) by the French, and baudruches (French letters), armour, sheaths, and machines by the English, condoms were a booming trade in eighteenth-century London. No matter the dire warnings from the Church, condemning the condom as immoral, and no matter the occasional prominent physician who blasted it as useless, an ever-growing demand created the potential for profit. Whenever that’s the case, commerce finds a way to thrive.

Although its value as a contraceptive was known, evidence suggests its primary use was as a preventative. The threat of contracting “the great pox” was a very real concern in the 1700s.  At the time, the term was used interchangeably to denote both gonorrhea (the clap) and syphilis, and the adjective “great,” though not always present, distinguished it from chickenpox and smallpox.

There was no effective cure for the pox, so the promise of prevention was enticing. Payment could be high for that one quick indiscretion while out carousing with one’s mates—and if a lad had a friend, a sailor for Pete’s sake,  who’d vowed he’d been using condoms for years with no sign of the dreaded pox—why wouldn’t he be tempted to consider the condom as well?

London entrepreneurs, not a few of them women, sold their wares in taverns, pubs, barbershops, and apothecaries, as well as hawked them streetside and in open-air markets. Startup and operating costs were negligible. Animal intestines were inexpensive and easily obtained from the local butcher, sulfur and lye from the neighborhood apothecary, and silk ribbon from the local haberdasher. The steps were simple:

• Soak the intestines in water for several hours.
• Soften the mess by soaking it in a weak lye solution for a day or two, changing the solution every twelve hours.
• Scrape the mucous membrane off the intestinal material.
• Soften the remaining matter over the vapor of ‘burning brimstone’ (steam it over hot sulfur).
• Wash what’s left with lye soap and water.
• Cut into oblong-shaped pieces and fold up into a sack (about seven inches should do, maybe eight).
• Punch tiny holes around the top edges and thread the ribbon (pink was especially popular) through those holes.

 Voila! One size fits all.

Casanova's Party Trick

For the truly ambitious, the moist gut in step six might be molded over an oiled glass cast that has been blown into the appropriate shape.

It’s best not to try any of this at home. The fumes from the sulfur and lye can cause debilitating side effects and the effort might result in a condom riddled with holes. (Hence Casanova’s Party Trick in image at right).

Visit the local drugstore instead.

A linen condom was easy to produce as well, provided one was proficient with a needle. But the trade found the gut variety sold better, as the seam on the linen condom proved uncomfortable to customers.

These little devices were expensive, and it was not uncommon for a man to save and reuse his armour. Buying, washing, and reselling used condoms evolved into a lucrative side occupation for those with ready access to a brothel.

Now, why this surge of capitalism didn’t catch on in eighteenth-century Philadelphia, I’m not sure. It certainly wasn’t for lack of need. Immigrants from all over the world flowed into the city through its harbor, making Philadelphia the most ethnically and socially diverse city in the new United States, as well as the city with the closest ties to Europe. Venereal disease was epidemic during the last two decades of the 1700s, and casual sex, children borne outside of wedlock, adultery, and prostitution were commonplace.

Nevertheless, it was one industry in which it appears our American forefathers lagged behind. It may be that individuals made do with their own resources, or that the supply of black market condoms smuggled in by the carrying trade was sufficient to fill the demand. But for whatever reason, evidence suggests condoms were not sold openly on Philadelphia’s Market Street.

That began to change in the mid 1790s. Moreau de St. Méry, an ex-patriot from France, visited Philadelphia in 1793 and decided to stay. He opened a  bookstore on Front and Walnut in 1794 and stocked it with condoms as well as books, thinking to provide for the French colonials. He soon found the small items to be in great demand by the Americans.

St. Méry credits himself that “the use of this medium on the vast American continent dates from this time.” And though happy to supply a need and make a profit, he did deride the American customers’ surreptitious purchase and use. By the time he closed up shop in the late 1790s, Philadelphians could make their discreet purchases in any number of establishments.

The merit of condoms was subject for discussion in one of the scenes of Voices Beckon, and not, heaven forbid, out of any desire to be “politically correct” on my part. I merely thought protection would have been on the mind of any randy young lad with a mind to his future.

Collier, Aine, The Humble Little Condom, A History, (Amherst, New York 2007)

Lyons, Clare, Sex Among the Rabble, An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830 (University of North Carolina Press, NC  2006)

St. Méry , Moreau de,  Moreau de St. Méry's American Journey (1793-1798), translated and edited by Kenneth Roberts and Anne Roberts, (Garden City, NY 1947)

Image of Market Street:  Mather, Horace, Early Philadelphia: Its People, Life & Progress, (Philadelphia, PA  1917)

About the book:

The year is 1783 and passengers are swarming the bustling Bristol quay, anxiously awaiting the call to board.

David Graham, a Scot indentured for the next six years to a Philadelphia printer, waits among them, as does Elisabeth Hale, a young Englishwoman making the passage with her father, and Liam Brock, an orphaned Scot with a dubious past.

Thrown together despite differences of class and religion, these three teens forge an unwavering bond of friendship, love, and loyalty—until Elisabeth is forced to make a choice that threatens to shatter their world.

Voices Beckon spans seven years in the lives of David, Elisabeth, and Liam. Rich in historical detail, this sweeping romance chronicles their coming of age against the vivid backdrop of the developing United States of America.

Voices Beckon is available on Amazon and BarnesandNoble. I’d love for readers to stop by my website and follow me on Twitter.