The History of Our Little Rubber Friends

Condoms are as old as sex, well not quite, but pretty close! Condoms have been used since the time of the ancient Egyptians. There are drawings of condoms from this period that are about 3,000 years old. This was probably worn for a ritualistic purpose or to prevent pregnancy. Condoms were written about in the 1500’s by an Italian to document condom use to prevent disease.

The oldest condoms ever found were discovered in Dudley Castle in England and were probably used for STD prevention. These condoms were made out of animal intestines. In the 1800’s leather and tortoise shell condoms were available in Japan. The first rubber condoms were patented in 1855 by Goodyear and relatively expensive for the time. These condoms were reusable and had seams down the sides. They were also about 1-2 mm thick! Condom distribution was made difficult by laws that regulated pregnancy prevention and condoms were only available by a prescription to specifically prevent disease.

Laws were not changed until the 1930’s and newer methods of condom making were made available, so by W.W.II thin and disposable condoms were readily available. These were promoted amongst soldiers to prevent STD transmission. Since then, they have been widely available to the public without a prescription.