The American Social Health Association (ASHA) is one of the leading organizations dedicated to increasing education about STD's. And as everyone knows, for sexually active people, one of the best ways to prevent one is to use a condom for sex.
But what fewer people know is that this was actually the reason they were originally invented, not as a contraceptive to prevent pregnancy. In fact, condoms first hit the scene back in the 1500s, as a way to stop syphilis, which, until the invention of antibiotics, was a really serious and often fatal disease.
Recently ASHA released an interesting timeline of condom history. Here are their highlights:
- 1564. Gabriel Fallopius invents a linen sheath and tests it on 1100 men. The goal was to prevent syphilis, which proved successful! Having been found useful for prevention of infection, it was only later that the usefulness of the condom for the prevention of pregnancy was recognized.
- 1605. The first indication that these devices were used for birth control, rather than disease prevention, is the 1605 theological publication De iustitia et iure (On justice and law) by Catholic theologian Leonardus Lessius, who condemned them as immoral.
- 1700s. In addition to the linen sheaths already used, condoms made from animal intestines became available. However, they were quite expensive and the unfortunate result was that they were often reused.
- 1706. The first published used of the word appears in the poem "The Scots Answer to a British Vision" by John Hamilton, Lord Belhaven.
- 1855. The first rubber condom was produced. The earliest rubber condoms had a seam and were as thick as a bicycle inner tube.
- 1861.The first advertisement for condoms was published in an American newspaper when The New York Times printed an ad for Dr. Power's French Preventatives. In 1873, the Comstock Law made illegal the advertising of any sort of birth control.
- 1920. Trojan brand condoms introduced, manufactured by Young's Rubber of New York. Young's Rubber became the first company to produce a latex condom. Condoms made of latex, also invented in 1920, were both stronger and thinner than their rubber counterparts and also has a longer shelf life.
- 1950s. Two improvements are made to the condom: lubrication (Durex introduces the first lubricated condom) and the reservoir tip.
- 1975. While the National Association of Broadcasters Code of Conduct prohibited condoms ads on televison in the 1960s and 1970s, station KNTV in San Jose broadcast a carry a condom commercial for Trojan in 1975. The first broadcast TV network in this country to air a paid condom commercial was Fox in 1991.
- 1980s. The emergence of HIV and the AIDS epidemic results in strong encouragement to use condoms. Latex condoms are promoted to prevent infection with HIV.
- 1993. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the female condom for use in the US. The female condom is a polyurethane (plastic) pouch that fits inside a woman's vagina.
- Today. The U.S. Agency for International Development encourages condom use in developing countries to help solve the "world population crises. Worldwide condom use is expected to continue to grow. One study predicted that developing nations would need 18.6 billion condoms by 2015. Condoms have become an integral part of modern societies.
Condoms have never been more available than they are today, but that doesn't mean that they are widely loved. People complain that they are uncomfortable, ruin the mood, and hard to use. And while it might seem like this in the heat of the moment, currently they are by far the bast way for sexually active teens (both gay and straight) to stay safe.
