Onan's problem: A brief history of the rubber

By JP Malig

 

IN the beginning there was withdrawal, and God was displeased.

Onan, in the earliest recorded example of birth control, spilled his seed upon the ground instead of in his brother's wife. He was promptly smote down by God for his wastefulness. Pity.

Egyptians in the 13th century B.C. were more prudent. They utilized oiled animal bladders and intestines to contain their fluid, and seemed to have largely avoided such smoting.

The condom appears next in cave paintings at Les Combarelles , in southern France, dated  around 100 A.D. It is also commonly believed that the ancient Romans had things for their things. But, despite what one  might think, nothing suggests that either Trojans or Sheiks were on the condom tip.

Notwithstanding these early, and sketchy, proto-prophylactics, the first documentation of a sheath for the dick came in 1564 from Italian anatomist Gabriel Fallopius.

His members only design consisted of a linen and intestine construction that fit over the tip of Junior and was intended to ward off syphilis. A larger model was designed for a circumcised thingie. 

Though Fallopius claimed more than a thousand successful trials as proof of his invention's effectiveness, it evidently rubbed users the wrong way. If used improperly (i.e., without cleaning), it spread as many maladies as it could prevent.

Allegedly, Fallopius didn't even want his name tied to his  creation. Nearly a century later, England's King Charles II , a Dionysian figure to say the least, demanded his personal physician create a contraption that would help prevent syphilis.

It's good to be the King. Dr. Condom* produced something made of stretched and oiled sheep intestines. No word on whether he had been influenced by Fallopius. Apparently the device worked -- unlike his fellow oversexed royal, Henry VIII ,  Charles II died not of V.D., but of apoplexy.

The King's innovation caught on. Men at court used them; commoners sold them; advertisers trumpeted their  effectiveness and, needless to say, moralists derided them.

They held that condoms lead to the deterioration of the human race by encouraging pre-marital sex, sex with prostitutes and the demise of marriage.

Characteristically ignoring all caution, a libertine of no less stature than Casanova supposedly employed a condom in his trysts; he referred to it as his  "English Riding Coat."

Slowly, the condom's popularity spread. When travelers visited Japan in the mid-19th century, they discovered condoms made of both tortoise-shell (kabutogata) and leather (kyotai). Back in the West, Hancock and Goodyear vulcanized rubber in 1843, setting the stage for the next leap in prophylactic technology --  by the 1870s, molded rubber condoms had come into vogue.

But whether made of shell, leather or rubber, these models were used repeatedly until they broke. In the 1920s, a relaxation of the Comstock Law  -- which prohibited the production and sale of printed references to sex as well as products intended for use during intercourse -- enabled the condom to surface in places as respectable as pharmacies and truck-stop bathrooms.

Latex manufacturing processes improved in the 1930s to produce a raincoat almost as thin, pliant and inexpensive as the ones we use today, ushering in the age of the infinitely more sanitary single-use condom.

As with the development of so many other wonderful consumer products, the real Rubber Revolution was sparked by the two world wars. Despite official pleas to abstain from sex during the first World War , few Americans stationed overseas listened.

While WWI hospitals were busy treating all types of afflictions -- some even battle-inflicted -- officials discovered that V.D. and children were unpleasant side effects of wartime carnal diversions.

So in World War II , the armed forces decided to try out a new strategy -- promoting the use of condoms. While the practical value was unquestioned, moralists still raised Cain.

Following V-J day, the military returned to its former stance of issuing stern admonishments against wanton sex. But there were baby boomers to be conceived, and with the availability of penicillin, V.D. prevention was no longer a motivating concern.

Yet by this time there was no getting soft on this sticky  subject. Thanks to the visions of inventors who could roll with the changing times, condoms were here to stay.

The next frontier for prophylactics involved making them more consumer friendly. The reservoir tip on the skin-tight latex condom was introduced in the early '50s, as was the sensation-deadening condom designed to end premature ejaculation (as if all condoms weren't "sensation-deadening").

The concept of "mutual pleasure" emerged in 1973 with the release of the textured condom. In the '80s, the spread of AIDS transformed the condom into an essential sexual accessory.

Women were finally allowed into the act in 1993, when the female condom hit the American market. Finally, the onus was no longer on Onan.

           

*If that was in fact his name. It also has been reported as Condon, Cundum, Conton, Colonel Condom and even The Earl of Condom. The name also could be an etymological derivation  of the Latin word "condus," meaning "receptacle."

 

23 March 1998