Close Encounter
date: label: date made
content: ca 1980s
notes: label: Description
content: This Close Encounter brand condom was distributed by Barnetts Incorporated of Charlotte, North Carolina during the 1980s. The condom’s packaging features an image of a man and woman embracing, with the text “Close Encounter/Condom with NP-9.” Below the image the text reads “This product combines a latex condom and a spermicidal lubricant. The spermicide nonoxynol-9 reduces the number of active sperm, thereby decreasing the risk of pregnancy if you lose your erection before withdrawal and some semen spill outside the condom. However, the extent of decreased risk has not been established. This condom should not be used as a substitute for the combine use of a vaginal spermicide and a condom.”
label: Description
content: The back of the box reads “Close Encounter/The modern pre-shaped condom with spermicidal lubrication.” The inclusion of spermicidal lubricant was a marked change from the condoms of the early 20th century that were sold “for disease prevention only.” After 1965, the court case, Griswold v Connecticut, opened the door for the sale of condoms as a contraceptive.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: North Carolina, Charlotte
label: place distributed
content: United States: North Carolina, Charlotte
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Sex
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0416.032
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0416.032
label: accession number
content: 1989.0416
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Condom
label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, condom, novelty
label: Other Terms
content: Condom; Contraceptive Devices
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/8 in x 1 1/2 in x 1/4 in; 5.3975 cm x 3.81 cm x .635 cm