10 Of The Strangest Contraceptives In History

In modern days there are a number of ways you can avoid unwanted pregnancy and still enjoy intercourse with your partner. However, in ancient times people still wanted to be racy and get it on without having to worry about raising children. And while condoms are common and the simplest of male contraception methods, the truth is that before they were invented people didn’t have a certain contraceptive and creatively enough they came up with a number of bizarre and strange ideas. Here are history’s 10 strangest and most bizarre methods of avoiding pregnancy.

Mercury

In the good old days mercury was considered to be the cure for almost everything. Thus it’s no wonder that a couple of thousands of years ago in China, women used to take a shot of mercury after sex in order to avoid pregnancy.

Moonlight And Magic Spit

According to old Greenland natives, the moon is the reason women are pregnant. Thus, in order to avoid pregnancy, women would simply stop looking at the lunar orb before going to sleep. For additional effect, they would rub some spit on their belly.

Gold And Silver Diaphragms

A predecessor of modern cervical caps, diaphragms are used to this day in various forms. However, in the good old days, diaphragms were the most popular method of birth control and while the poor used oiled paper and beeswax to make such caps, the elite used gold and silver diaphragms. Of course hey led to unusual odors, the Toxic Shock Syndrome, discharge and infections, but at least women were protected from pregnancy, right?

Honey-Coated Cervix

In ancient Egypt women used to coat their cervix with honey before having sex in order to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Some women would go as far as adding additional ingredients to the honey, including natron and crocodile poop.

Animal Intestines

The idea of wrapping something around your penis in order to avoid impregnation has been around long before the invention of the condom. However, due to the lack of latex, people used animal intestines, in most common cases either from a pig of a goat.

Vinegar

In order for pregnancy to be prevented, the Hebrew had a method of soaking a natural sea sponge in vinegar and then inserting it into the vagina. There are a number beliefs to this day about vinegar and birth control, but the fact is that it there is no scientific truth to it.

Lemons

In the 1700’s, halves of lemons were used, because their shape resembled diaphragms and they believed that the acid in the citrus would kill the sperm.

Blacksmith Water

Back in good old ancient Greece and for about 1,800 years after, there was the idea that if you drink the water which a blacksmith uses to cool the materials he’s working with it will prevent you of getting pregnant. Even in the first World War, women were serving as volunteers in factories in order to have access to lead that will make them sterile.

Coca Cola

When it first appeared, Coca Cola was sold as a cough syrup, but what most don’t know is that in the late ’50s and ’60s people started using it as a birth control method by introducing the liquid in the vagina after sex.

Opium

Diaphragms were a common method of birth control. While in some countries, as aforementioned, they were made of gold and silver, other nations used opium diaphragms. This included the people of ancient Sumatra.