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History of contraception: 10 horrific birth control techniques that'll put you off sex forever
a whole lot
1.The Coca-Cola douche
2. Lemons
3. Squatting and sneezing
4. Animal intestines and bladders
5. Steaming sperm
6. Blacksmith's water
We never imagined the ancient Greeks to be that resourceful with recycling, but it turns out we were wrong. In the olden days, they apparently used to drink the water that blacksmith's used to cool materials, believing that the exposure to lead would prevent pregnancy. Amazingly this practice is said to have continued until around World War I. After being exposed to lead so often, this is when they most likely discovered that pregnancy was the least of their worries.
7. Hanging testicles
Trying to have sex nowadays with a pair of weasel balls attached to your leg would do one thing and one thing only: completely and utterly kill the mood. Even with rose petals, champagne and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On playing, there's simply nothing that's going to save that. But people living in medieval times were troopers and this is apparently exactly the way they attempted to stop unwanted pregnancy. Testicles are a popular theme in the world of birth control, with the 16th century Canadians grinding up beaver balls into a fine powder, adding it into a potent moonshine mix and downing it to halt any unwelcome surprises.
8. Gold and silver diaphragms
Gold and silver diaphragms sounded like a great idea back in the day. But the method of creating a gold or silver thimble that covered a woman's cerxic unfortunately wasn't as inspired as it sounds. In fact, it was pretty disastrous. This method of contraception had a habit of giving sexually active young ladies toxic shock syndrome, unusual discharge and infections. Not to mention they often fell out during sex and would end up in pregnancy.
[[heroimage||http://cdn.junglecreations.com/wp/junglecms/2017/09/pregnant-compressor.jpg||The history of contraception tells us that a lot of people got pregnant]]
9. Mercury
This one sounds a little out there, but hey, if people tried swinging testicles and steaming, they probably tried this. According to the history of contraception, around about 900 BC, Chinese birth control experts advised women to swallow 16 tadpoles fried in quicksilver (mercury) immediately after sex, assuring them that it would stop them from getting pregnant. They were right, no babies were made - but this was because many women became sterile after using the ill-advised method. And they were the lucky ones; others were left with damage to their kidneys, liver and other major organs, with others dying.
10. Crocodile Poo
The Egyptians were famous for mummification and pulling brains out of their noses, so of course they would believe that crocodile dung was the answer to all of their problems. Apparently pre-love making, the woman would put it up her vagina. Because nothing really says sexy like animal poo ...
So, hands up if you think old age forms of contraception were downright barmy. Although, you could always argue that the people of the past had to go through kooky birth control methods for us to have the safe practices we have today. In that case, we owe the horny people of the past big.