The History/Evolution of Birth Control *Ladies Only*

[kamikat]

This attitude drives me (childfree 22 year old) up the wall. I don't tolerate hormonal birth control very well at all but bringing up tubal ligation or a copper IUD gets me laughed out of the doctor's office.

The reason they won't give you an IUD is that the cervix needs to be a little soft and slightly open in order to insert it. Basically, you have to have had a child first.

 

[LizzieMaine]

From my Wards '37
A whole page dedicated to feminine needs.

Note the phrase "Destroys Germ Life" in the copy for so many of the products -- that was the '30s code phrase for "spermicidal."

 

[MissAmelina]

WOW!! LD, those ads are AWESOME....although i am now squirming in my seat...

 

[C-dot]

Note the phrase "Destroys Germ Life" in the copy for so many of the products -- that was the '30s code phrase for "spermicidal."

I didn't get that when I read it. I'm so used to the direct advertising of today - Sometimes too direct.

Some of those make me squirm too. The only brands advertised that are still in use today are Midol, Kotex and Tampax, I noticed.

Today we know how damaging douches can be. They are not effective methods of birth control as they succeed in forcing sperm into the fallopian tubes more than removing it.

 

[Lady Day]

Note the phrase "Destroys Germ Life" in the copy for so many of the products -- that was the '30s code phrase for "spermicidal."

Thats just so not right calling sperm 'germs' lol

LD

 

[kamikat]

Here's a question I've always wondered: did men think women were all dirty or did they understand that these were euphemisms?

 

[Lady Day]

I will be difficult to get a response for that question in this thread, since its ladies only. But Im sure between jock itch, athletes foot and a fair amount of hair and skin maladies, they had an equal dose of 'dirty' euphemisms.

LD

 

[Inky]

Thats just so not right calling sperm 'germs' lol

LD

I prefer "cooties."

Seriously though, thank you for scanning and posting those - fascinating to read and another reminder for me personally that although I love the vintage look, clothing, furnishings and items, I much prefer being of this day and age in most other regards.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think "germ" was being used in the sense that it's used in "wheat germ," to describe material that contained "the germ of life," rather than to imply that men were nasty dirty things who leave the toilet seat up, flick their ashes on the rug, and track mud across a clean kitchen floor. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Seriously, though, consider this: at the time these products were being sold, it had only been about forty years since it was positively confirmed how the union of a sperm cell and an egg would lead to a baby. And it had only been about ten years since a positive link was established between specific points in a woman's cycle and her fertility. This stuff may seem antiquated today, but it's cutting-edge science in 1937, and the lady going down to the Rexall to buy her tube of Ortho-Gynol rightly thought of herself as up-to-the-minute in every way.

 

[fortworthgal]

I prefer "cooties."

I actually giggled at my desk when I read this! lol

 

[C-dot]

Seriously, though, consider this: at the time these products were being sold, it had only been about forty years since it was positively confirmed how the union of a sperm cell and an egg would lead to a baby. And it had only been about ten years since a positive link was established between specific points in a woman's cycle and her fertility. This stuff may seem antiquated today, but it's cutting-edge science in 1937, and the lady going down to the Rexall to buy her tube of Ortho-Gynol rightly thought of herself as up-to-the-minute in every way.

It really puts into perspective how much progress we've made in so little time. And thank goodness we have... Using any kind of Lysol to clean my innards? I'd rather bathe in motor oil!

 

[Inky]

I actually giggled at my desk when I read this! lol

fftopic: then you'd really like my tattoo i got for myself when I turned 40!

 

[Inky]

Seriously, though, consider this: at the time these products were being sold, it had only been about forty years since it was positively confirmed how the union of a sperm cell and an egg would lead to a baby. And it had only been about ten years since a positive link was established between specific points in a woman's cycle and her fertility. This stuff may seem antiquated today, but it's cutting-edge science in 1937, and the lady going down to the Rexall to buy her tube of Ortho-Gynol rightly thought of herself as up-to-the-minute in every way.

And I thank each and every one of those very modern women for walking in to the Rexall and paving the way for the future modern women.....

 

[MagsRags]

What an interesting thread, ladies! My daytime paycheck job is as a nurse practitioner in women's healthcare - I'm a Certified Nurse Midwife, but retired from delivering babies a couple of years ago.

@kamikat, those of us who keep up with continuing education do insert IUDs for nulliparous women (no previous pregnancies). Insertion tends to be a bit more painful and sometimes challenging for the practitioner because of the cervical issues you mentioned, but almost always doable.

The trend over the last few years is toward long acting highly effective contraception that is also reversible - methods like the IUDs and Implanon. This is more in line with contraceptive patterns in Europe where sterilization has never been as commonly used as here in the US. You don't have the general anesthesia risks and they're just as effective - the Mirena IUD is even more effective then tubal ligation. And research done by interviewing women years after sterilization has found that about 1 in 5 women who had a TL before age 30 eventually wished they hadn't.

 

[cecil]

The reason they won't give you an IUD is that the cervix needs to be a little soft and slightly open in order to insert it. Basically, you have to have had a child first.

That's incorrect, a woman can have an IUD inserted with out ever having been pregnant. They're just inserted when one is menstruating heavily as the cervix is sligtly dilated at this time.

 

[cecil]

Lady Day, may I save some of those images to my PC? They're just great.

 

[Lady Day]

I cant stop ya. Once they are on the tubal interwebs, they are everyones!

LD

 

[cecil]

Haha, that's true. I think I need to make the "Va-Jette" advertisement my Facebook profile picture...

 

[C-dot]

Haha, that's true. I think I need to make the "Va-Jette" advertisement my Facebook profile picture...

Yeah, Va-Jette cracked me up too. It sounds like a car or something lol

 

[Paisley]

And research done by interviewing women years after sterilization has found that about 1 in 5 women who had a TL before age 30 eventually wished they hadn't.

Not a few people who've had kids wished they hadn't.