Pam Crooks

Last month, I wrote about how women through the ages have used a variety of strange and not-so-strange contraceptive methods.  Today, it’s the guys’ turn.

In a word–condoms.

Following are a few fascinating facts about them.  Bear in mind, they came into use more as a way for the man to defend himself against disease than to keep his mate from getting pregnant.  Birth control was mostly considered the woman’s responsibility.

 **Egyptians in the Twelfth Dynasty donned them as protection against insect bites and tropical diseases, as well as for a show of social status and as an amulet to promote fertility.

**In the 1560’s, Gabriel Fallopius (discoverer of–you guessed it!–Fallopian tubes) wrote of men wearing linen sheaths soaked in an herbal concoction to prevent syphilis.

 **Early 18th century condoms were made from oiled silk, fish bladders, and the intestines of goats, lambs and calves.

 **Casanova, the legendary Italian lover, inspected each condom before use by blowing into it balloon-style to make sure it didn’t deflate or burst.  He then went on to moisten each one by dunking it into the canal to ensure a tight fit.

Due to the illegality of contraceptive manufacturing and advertising (remember the Comstock laws I told you about?), condom entrepreneurs set up shop in the kitchens and back rooms of emigrants, women and Jews.  They found their trade lucrative in spite of their lack of professional credibility.

Despite doing a brisk business in their trade, the contraband condoms were far from perfect:

**The skins were often thick and smelly, made worse because they were rinsed, dried, powdered and then reused until they cracked or tore.

**Lower quality skins were hand-stitched, which resulted in uneven and bulky seams that irritated genitalia during use.

**On the other hand, higher-quality condoms were chemically treated, which left skin welts and lesions.

Maybe you didn’t know:

**Early condoms were securied onto their wearers with pink ribbons–probably to appeal to the female.  Rings were also used to hold them in place.

**George Bernard Shaw declared the rubber condom (thanks to the accidental genius of Charles Goodyear in 1839 who discovered how to make rubber elastic and water-proof) as “the greatest invention of the nineteenth century.”  Evidently, he placed lower importance on the invention of the telephone, which occurred about the same time.

**Urban butchers, defying the Comstock laws, provided city-dwellers with intestine casings, of which one animal alone could yield dozens of condoms.

In the 1870’s, the devices were readily available from mail-order houses and first-class druggists through cleverly-worded descriptions to avoid prosecution.  (I always love the terminology from that era.  Where did they come up with these names?)  A few I’ve found:

Male Pouch

Male Shields

Capotes

Machine

Love’s Preservative

And yes, condoms were available in brothels all over the world, from the classiest French parlor house to the primitive cribs on the American frontier.

Speaking of names, and brothels, and the prostitutes who inhabited them, the women took on a variety of nicknames to protect themselves and their families back East from their disreputable occupation.  Here’s a few of the more amusing, and definitely less romantic, ones I’ve read:

Crazy Horse Lil

Big Nose Kate

Squirrel-Tooth Annie

Rowdy Kate

Madame Moustache

Mustang Mae

Rocking Chair Emma

Sorrel Mike

So that wraps up my series of posts on Old West prostitutes.  Are you up to playing a little game?  Let’s name a fictional soiled dove by using your favorite pet’s name and your favorite vegetable.

Winner of the funniest name will receive an autographed copy of Western Winter Wonderland!    Or just drop in and let us know your thoughts!

A while back, when I blogged about soiled doves, Tanya Hanson asked about birth control and what women did to prevent disease.   It was an excellent question, one I had long been curious about myself.  Tanya provided me with the incentive to finally lay those curiosities to rest.

But, I gotta tell ya, it took some doing. Information was scarce.   I rolled up my shirt sleeves and sought help from a soiled dove expert who recommended some resources. None of the libraries in my area had those books, but I found them online and promptly bought them. I also stumbled upon a book detailing the history of contraceptives in America, which proved my biggest treasure of all.

So here you go, my friends. Birth control in the Old West.

First off, let me explain why information was–and still is–difficult to obtain for that period.  A religious zealot, Anthony Comstock, was so incensed by the lewdness he observed in New York streets during the 1860’s that he surreptitiously wrote a law that would forbid it, along with the plentiful printed matter that openly promoted/advertised promiscuous living.  An over-worked Congress quickly passed the bill, their intent being to keep the integrity of the mails safe, yet it’s doubtful anyone realized at the time the immensity of what they’d done.

In its attempt to stop the spread of pornography, the Comstock Act of 1873 targeted information on contraception as being obscene, making it illegal to advertise or ship said information and devices. Postal inspectors hired secret agents to enforce the law, an overwhelming job at best.  And while that could be a story in itself, (as well as how creative entrepreneurs evaded the law), needless to say, with the end of the Victorian era, sex thrived.

(Disclaimer:  Before we go on, I in no way endorse any of these methods, however promising they might seem.  Please do not try these at home.)

Now, where were we?

Contraceptives have been around *forever*.  As in 1850 B.C. forever.  The oldest known guide was found in an Egyptian papyrus which described vaginal suppositories made of crocodile dung, gum, or a mixture of honey and sodium carbonate.  In actuality, there was some validity to the honey mixture, as it did seem to impede sperm motility.But crocodile dung? Yeesh.

In 4th century B.C., Aristotle writes how women coated their cervixes with olive oil. (Now, this one worked. Relatively recent studies done on 2,000 women resulted in a 0% pregnancy rate with olive oil being the only contraception.)

A few others from early times: West African women used crushed root for intra-vaginal plugs. Japanese women, bamboo tissue. Easter Island woman made algae and seaweed pessaries. Islamic guides from the 13th century recommended elephant dung which has more acidity and would’ve offered more protection than the crocodile’s stuff.

Time went on.  In pre-industrial America, women depended on methods many of us recognize today:

*Prolonged Breastfeeding

*Coitus Interruptus

*Rhythm method–counting days on the calendar.  Women were instructed by their physicians to count 14 days after the cessation of their menstrual period.  (Too bad the docs hadn’t figured out that was her most fertile time.)

*Squatting over a pot of steaming water immediately after sex to help fumigate internal organs.

As women moved further into the isolation of the west, they fashioned homemade remedies such as:

*Vinegar and water douches

*Diaphragms made from hollowed-out lemons, orange peels or beeswax

*Vaseline (I found this in several resources.  Mixed with salicylic acid (similar to aspirin), it destroyed sperm without injury to the vagina or cervix.)

*Cocoa butter and boric acid.  Another strange one.  Recipe in hand, women got together to make these like we’d get together and bake cookies.  They took a shoe box and poked holes in the lid, then put the cocoa butter in and added the boric acid which made little cones.

*Sanitary sponges–dipped in antiseptic, they were used to keep the ladies ‘germ-free’.  (Germ meaning sperm.)

*Abortifacients.

While doing this research, I was struck by the lengths women went through to control the size of their families.  Hindered by the Comstock laws, they were forced to depend on each other to learn and protect themselves with what little they had.

Next time, the male side of contraception.

  On a lighter note, please share your stories of your funniest or worst visit to your gynecologist.  Or how you learned about the birds and the bees.  Or anything about your first pregnancy or delivery.

You could win the drawing for a copy of WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND, my Christmas anthology, signed by Jenna Kernan, Cheryl St.John and myself!

I’ll go first. My daughter–when she found out I was working on this blog–told me how her doctor (a female) was doing a pap smear on her right before Thanksgiving.  In the middle of the exam, the doc said, “Mmm, mmmm, mmm. I could sure go for some pecan pie right now!! I love pecan pie around Thanksgiving!!” Thinking it was the oddest, most bizarre thing ever to say to someone in stirrups during their annual exam, my daughter still giggles about it.