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Condoms
Incredibly, the condom has been with us for around 3,000 years, the first known examples being linen sheaths used by the ancient Egyptians. And although evidence is sketchy, it is also widely believed by historians that the Romans used a type of condom; this is just as well considering their propensity for orgiastic promiscuity! But it was when a widespread syphilis epidemic gripped mainland Europe in the 1500s that the value of the condom (still made from linen) came into sharp focus. Even then, it was seen first and foremost as a way of preventing disease – the idea that it was also a birth control method bizarrely not yet recognised.
In the 1700s, tougher condoms were made from animal intestines and quaintly marketed as “an armour against pleasure and a cobweb against infection”! Gross, perhaps, but they were effective. The drawback was that they were pricey, so even more unsavoury is that they were often used more than once. Eek …
The real breakthrough in condom manufacture came in the mid-1800s when Goodyear and Hancock perfected the process of rubber vulcanisation, paving the way for cheap mass production of condoms. Over the ensuing decades, condom design and manufacture developed in leaps and bounds to produce condoms that were thinner, in respect to sensitivity, yet stronger and more hygienic.
Everybody knows the name Durex so well that, much like Hoover with vacuum cleaners, condoms have become popularly referred to by the company name. It was Durex that launched the lubricated condom in 1957 and they remain pretty much the same to the present day.
Yet condom use significantly declined following the introduction of ‘The Pill’ in the early 1960s. It was only in the early 1980s, when HIV/AIDS were identified, that condom use dramatically increased and for the first time went on sale in ‘High Street’ outlets with worldwide government-led campaigns to drive home their essential use in any sexual encounter.
You do not need naughtybitsandbobs.com to preach to you on the importance of safe sex, so all we will say is practice it at all times, okay? If you have no condoms right now, then please make sure you buy some from us at naughtybitsandbobs.com. After all, you would not be reading this page if you were not interested in them in the first place!
If you need any further information about condoms, please call us on 0800 051 7616 or submit our online enquiry form. We are here to take your order.
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