Condoms
- Early condoms were made of linen or pig or sheep's
gut, tied at the end with ribbon. After sex, they
were rinsed out and reused!
- An 18th-century illustrated condom, featuring three
naughty nuns, was sold at a Christie's auction for
£3,300
- There is no truth in the story that condoms were invented
by a Dr Condom, physician to Charles II
- Although it has been suggested that condoms were used
by the Ancient Egyptians, the earliest actual report
of a condom was by the Italian anatomist, Fallapio
in 1564. He claimed to have invented a linen sheath,
made to fit the penis, as protection against syphilis
- In England, condoms are known as 'French Letters'.
In Italy, they used to be called 'English Overcoats'
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What are condoms?
A condom is a stretchy tube of latex rubber or polyurethane.
One end is closed. Most condoms have a small pouch at the closed
end (the teat), which collects semen and holds it in the condom.
Condoms are designed to fit over the erect penis, so put the
condom on when the penis is erect. If you try to put it on to
a soft penis, it will fall off.
How effective are condoms?
Latex condoms have a contraceptive failure rate of 3% per year.
This means that if 100 couples having regular sex used condoms
correctly every time (see Using
a condom – do’s
and don’ts) for a year, 3 of the women would
become pregnant. Of course, if you do not use condoms every
time you have sex, or if you do not use them properly, they
will not be as effective, and the ‘failure rate’ would
be about 15%.
Condoms
have an important advantage over other types of contraception – they
give good protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
As a result, many women who use the contraceptive pill for
protection against pregnancy, still like their partner to
use condoms.
