SEXIS WRONG

The Condom
Vern Bullough
Technically, the condom is a sheath designed to cover the
penis and catch the ejaculate. Condoms are different from
penis protectors designed to protect the penis from insect
bites or as badges of rank or status, decoration, modesty, or
a variety of other purposes. It is, however, possible that the
sheath or condom might have evolved from these. The first
use of the term in print is by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester,
who in 1665 wrote A Panegyric Upon the Condom.
The earliest use of a product to catch the ejaculate is much
older. It occurs in a tale told by Antoninus Liberalis, a second-century
compiler of Greek mythology who told of the
legendary Minos and Pasiphae. According to legend, the semen
of King Minos contained serpents and scorpions, and his
ejaculate injured all the women who had cohabited with him.
To solve the problem, he was advised to slip the bladder of a
goat either over his penis or into the vagina of a woman and
this would catch all the stored-up serpent-bearing demons
when he had sex with her, after which his semen, at least for
a brief period, would be normal. In any case, he impregnated
Pasiphae successfully, not just once but eight times, resulting
in the birth of four sons and four daughters.
As far as I know, there is no other mention of a condom in
classical literature. Its mention by Antoninus, however, would
indicate that animal bladders or perhaps animal ceca (intestines)
were at least occasionally used by either men or
women. The difficulty with the use of either is holding it on
the penis, or, in case of a vaginal insert, keeping it in place.
Ribbons were often put around the top and tied to the body.
Another difficulty is that bladders or ceca also deadened the
sensitivity so that, if the man used it for contraception rather
than for prophylactic reasons, it was more likely to be a tightfitting
cap rather than a full sheath.
The earliest known medical description of a device similar
to that used by Minos is by the Italian anatomist Fallopius
(1564), but, again, since his mention is rather casual, it gives
strength to the idea of a continuing tradition of such devices.
He wrote:
As often as man has intercourse, he should (if
possible) wash the genitals, or wipe them with
a cloth; afterward he should use a small linen
cloth made to fit the glans, and draw forward the
prepuce over the glans; if he can do it so, it is well
to moisten it with salve or with a lotion. However,
it does not matter; if you fear lest caries [syphilis]
be produced in the midst of the canal [vagina], take
the sheath of linen cloth and place it in the canal. I
tried the experiment on eleven hundred men, and
I call immortal God to witness that none of them
was infected. [Fallopius, 1564, trans. Himes, 1970]
At the end of the sixteenth century, the medical writer Hercules
Saxonia described a prophylactic sheath made of linen
soaked in a solution several times and then put out to dry.
From that time on, there are a growing number of references
to a penis sheath. Casimir Freschot described one made of an
animal bladder that covered the whole length of the penis and
was tied on by a ribbon. One physician reported that many a
libertine would rather risk getting the “clap” than use such
devices.
In the eighteenth century, White Kennet wrote a burlesqued
poem about the condom:
Happy the Man, who in his Pocket keeps,
Whether with Green or Scarlet Ribband bound
A well made C_____. He, nor dreads the ills
Of shanker or Cordee or Buboes Dire
With C_____ arm’d he wages am ‘rous Fight
THE CONDOM 291