page_title: Condom
section_title: 1800 through 1920s
hierarchical_section_title: Condom / History / 1800 through 1920s
caption_attribution_description: Català: Exposició realitzada entre el 2012 i el 2013 al CCCB de Barcelona sobre el Paral·lel. El Paral·lel és una de les avingudes de Barcelona que, com la Diagonal o la Gran Via, sorgeix del projecte d’eixamplament de la ciutat de Barcelona ideat per Ildefons Cerdà. Des del seu naixement, un seguit de disposicions urbanístiques contradictòries van facilitar l’aparició d’edificacions efímeres i la conversió d’aquest carrer en una densa àrea d’oci i espectacles. L’any 1894 s’inaugura oficialment com a via urbana de Barcelona. Des d’aleshores al voltant de l’avinguda hi creix un barri d’oci per a les masses, perfectament equiparable als existents en altres grans aglomeracions urbanes europees d’aquell moment. English: Pictures of an exhibit about The Paral·lel avenue in Barcelona that took place in CCCB cultural center between october 2012 and feb 2013. El Paral·lel emerges from the project to extend the city designed by Ildefons Cerdà. From its birth, a series of contradictory urban planning regulations facilitated the appearance of ephemeral buildings and the conversion of this street into a dense area of leisure and entertainment. The result was a leisure district for the masses, perfectly comparable to those existing in other major European urban agglomerations at that time, but that immediately became a genuine cultural expression of the social and political conflict that characterised the Barcelona of the early 20th century. El Paral·lel generated shows with perfectly differentiated contents and formats, made up by the audience and the artists. This exhibition will explain, therefore, why a new entertainment area emerged in the city, leading the weight of the theatrical axis to move from the Plaça Catalunya-Passeig de Gràcia area to the Nou de la Rambla-Paral·lel area.
context_page_description: A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection. There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of intercourse—women whose partners use male condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate. With typical use the rate of pregnancy is 18% per-year. Their use greatly decreases the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, hepatitis B, and HIV/AIDS. They also to a lesser extent protect against genital herpes, human papillomavirus, and syphilis.
  The male condom is rolled onto an erect penis before intercourse and works by forming a physical barrier which blocks semen from entering the body of a sexual partner. Male condoms are typically made from latex and, less commonly, from polyurethane, polyisoprene, or lamb intestine. Male condoms have the advantages of ease of use, easy to access, and few side effects. In those with a latex allergy a polyurethane or other synthetic version should be used. Female condoms are typically made from polyurethane and may be used multiple times.
  Condoms as a method of preventing STIs have been used since at least 1564.
context_section_description: The early 19th century saw contraceptives promoted to the poorer classes for the first time. Writers on contraception tended to prefer other methods of birth control to the condom. By the late 19th century many feminists expressed distrust of the condom as a contraceptive, as its use was controlled and decided upon by men alone. They advocated instead for methods which were controlled by women, such as diaphragms and spermicidal douches. Other writers cited both the expense of condoms and their unreliability (they were often riddled with holes, and often fell off or broke), but they discussed condoms as a good option for some, and as the only contraceptive that also protected from disease.
  Many countries passed laws impeding the manufacture and promotion of contraceptives. In spite of these restrictions, condoms were promoted by traveling lecturers and in newspaper advertisements, using euphemisms in places where such ads were illegal. Instructions on how to make condoms at home were distributed in the United States and Europe. Despite social and legal opposition, at the end of the 19th century the condom was the Western world's most popular birth control method.
  Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, American rates of sexually transmitted diseases skyrocketed. Causes cited by historians include effects of the American Civil War, and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the Comstock laws. To fight the growing epidemic, sex education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time, teaching about venereal diseases and how they were transmitted. They generally taught that abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms were not promoted for disease prevention because the medical community and moral watchdogs considered STDs to be punishment for sexual misbehavior. The stigma against victims of these diseases was so great that many hospitals refused to treat people who had syphilis.
  The German military was the first to promote condom use among its soldiers, beginning in the later 19th century. Early 20th century experiments by the American military concluded that providing condoms to soldiers significantly lowered rates of sexually transmitted diseases. During World War I, the United States and (at the beginning of the war only) Britain were the only countries with soldiers in Europe who did not provide condoms and promote their use.
  In the decades after World War I, there remained social and legal obstacles to condom use throughout the U.S. and Europe. Founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud opposed all methods of birth control on the grounds that their failure rates were too high. Freud was especially opposed to the condom because he thought it cut down on sexual pleasure. Some feminists continued to oppose male-controlled contraceptives such as condoms. In 1920 the Church of England's Lambeth Conference condemned all "unnatural means of conception avoidance". London's Bishop Arthur Winnington-Ingram complained of the huge number of condoms discarded in alleyways and parks, especially after weekends and holidays.
  However, European militaries continued to provide condoms to their members for disease protection, even in countries where they were illegal for the general population. Through the 1920s, catchy names and slick packaging became an increasingly important marketing technique for many consumer items, including condoms and cigarettes. Quality testing became more common, involving filling each condom with air followed by one of several methods intended to detect loss of pressure. Worldwide, condom sales doubled in the 1920s.
caption: An old-fashioned condom package
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