Strange Attempts at Birth Control in History
Birth Control Information
Unusual Forms Of
Contraceptives
From the beginning
of time, people have attempted to control their fertility. Human
beings have always been resourceful. Consider the modern day IUD.
It is a vast improvement over the lowly apricot pit. Apricot pit,
you say? Yes. The pit, inserted into the uterus, provided an irritation
to the uterine walls, thus preventing a fertilized egg from attaching
and growing. Actually, any small object inserted into the uterus
that sets up an irritation is not hospitable to a fertilized egg.
We do not recommend you visit your garden to save a few dollars
and we also haven't tested it to see if it worked for us.
Another earlier method
of contraception was post coital flushing. After intercourse the
female would squat, inserts a finger or some cylindrical object
into the vagina, swirls it around vigorously and the semen and
vaginal fluids. Not only is this gross, it wasn't very effective
either.
Before abortions quinine
mixed with tea and sipped in a hot bathtub was used to provoke
a miscarriage. Needless to say, this didn't work either.
A more modern method
(can we call it a Mythe-od) was the use of carbonated soft drinks
as a post-coital douche. Carbonation and sugar was said to kill
sperm. This was messy, sticky and a waste of good soda pop. And
you wonder why grandma and grandpa had so many kids!
If any of these methods
are starting to sound reasonable to you please head over to our
Birth
Control category.
