What are the contraceptive methods in ancient times?

In daily life, there is a possibility of pregnancy when there is sexual intercourse, so the issue of contraception exists all the time. Even in ancient times, the concept of contraception existed, but the contraceptive means and methods used at that time were not as scientific and reasonable as they are today. There are also great health risks, and even a high chance of contraceptive failure. So what are the contraceptive methods used in ancient times?

When it comes to contraception or abortion, the most effective method is to drink mercury. This method can not only prevent pregnancy, but can also "kill" a fetus that is several months pregnant, because mercury can pass through the placental barrier and cause miscarriage or premature birth. However, it causes great harm to the body after taking it and can easily lead to long-term infertility. In the past, brothel madams would usually force or secretly make prostitutes drink small amounts of mercury to prevent them from becoming pregnant and causing a series of troubles. Many prostitutes drank this mercury and were unable to have children even after they became good women.

In the past, there was a "traditional way" of contraception, which was to jump up and down. It was believed that this method could make semen and even the fetus jump out. I remember there was a plot in the TV series "The Passionate Years" where the heroine went to bed with a man and was worried about getting pregnant, so she kept jumping around. This was a method of contraception, but the success rate was obviously very low.

There is also a folk remedy, which is said to be to use tiles to dry the persimmon stems and eat them, seven at a time, for seven days in a row, which can keep you infertile for a year. If you want to get pregnant, eat two more persimmon stems. It sounds weird. I really don't understand why it is necessary to eat seven and not eight, and why you can get pregnant by eating two more.

There is another method, which is the "acupoint" contraceptive technique. It is said that after the emperor of the Qing Dynasty had sex with his concubines, he would massage a certain acupoint on the concubine's lower body to make her infertile. I think this method is just like "tearing the Japanese apart with bare hands", which is definitely unreliable. If this method is really effective, it should have been applied for World Heritage status earlier.

Through the above introduction, everyone has a clear understanding of what contraceptive methods were used in ancient times. From this we can see that some contraceptive measures in ancient times still had many flaws. Not to mention that their contraceptive effects were not satisfactory, unexpected pregnancies often occurred, and the harm they caused to women's bodies was not small.