Due to World AIDS Day on December 1, the condom is in the spotlight. The broken one cannot be broken as a contraceptive.
"I will never wrap myself in a piece of dead skin to prove that I am alive," wrote the Italian womanizer Casanova (1725-1798) boldly. In his day, condoms were made from animal materials, and Casanova thought it was weird to have sex with his penis inside a piece of pig gut or fish bladder. He later changed his mind and had an English raincoat fitted in a French brothel, something so exciting that he came with it.
The 'English raincoat' (which in England was called 'French letter' by the way) already had a long history back then. The Greeks and Romans already used condoms, made of unknown materials. They became really important in the sixteenth century, when the venereal disease syphilis killed many people. An Italian doctor, Gabrielle Falloppio, wrote that the disease was incurable and that everything should be done to prevent it. A linen condom, soaked in medicine and salt, was the only thing that helped.
The linen specimens and the sheep and pig casings were very stiff and had to be made to measure. That prevented massive use. Only when Charles Goodyear found a way to make rubber stronger in 1844 did latex condoms come on the market. From then on, the condom became the most commonly used contraceptive. And rightly so:despite the fact that everyone sometimes has resistance to a dead piece of plastic around the penis, the condom remains the best protection against diseases.