The 10 most cruel contraceptive methods used by women in ancient times

1. Contraception with decoction

Before the emergence of modern contraceptives, how did the prostitutes in brothels take contraceptive measures? There are few records in history books, few in unofficial history, and they are also glossed over in film and television dramas. There is a plot in a movie starring Gong Li: a prostitute drinks a kind of medicine before receiving a customer, which is said to prevent her from getting pregnant. Of course, there is no way to verify what ingredients this medicine contains, and there are many different opinions about the contraceptive methods used by ancient prostitutes.

2. Musk

It is said that putting musk into a prostitute's navel can prevent pregnancy. For example, there are records of the two sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede, who are considered the most "disaster-causing beauties" in China, taking such contraceptive measures. Of course, the sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede cannot be called prostitutes, but they did end up in the same place.

This kind of sticker for the navel is called "Laodu sticker". If you stick it on the belly button, it can end the conception function of a woman's belly and she will no longer be able to get pregnant. However, this "belly patch" has been lost.

There are also folk records that saffron is a secret contraceptive recipe passed down from the palace. It is said that if the emperor does not like a favored palace maid, he will let the eunuch hang the palace maid upside down and wash her lower body with saffron liquid. It is said that this can wash the semen in the palace maid's body. There are also some unofficial histories that say that in the past, after the emperor favored a concubine, if he did not want to keep the semen, the eunuch would help the woman with massage to ensure that the emperor's semen would not remain in the woman's body, thus achieving the effect of contraception.

4. "Cooling medicine"

Even now, there is no 100% effective contraceptive measure. Wei Xiaobao is the product of contraceptive failure. In the past, many prostitutes became infertile for life after they became good women. This was because they drank a kind of decoction for a long time that destroyed their fertility and became sterile. It was also said that they took a kind of contraceptive medicine called "cooling medicine", which also contained musk, which would affect fertility but not necessarily sterilize them.

5. Casing

There are also records of the use of "condoms", which used animal intestine casings. Some say they were from sheep, and some say pig bladders were early "condoms". However, according to historical records, the "condoms" used in Western medieval courts were animal intestine casings, and they had a nice name - "Dutch cap". Ancient Chinese people also used fish bladders as "condoms". Among the museum's collection are condoms made from sheep intestines by ancient people, which are somewhat similar to the prototype of modern condoms.

6. Animal feces

More than 3,000 years ago in India and Egypt, the feces of animals such as crocodiles and elephants, which were believed to have mysterious powers, were also used in contraceptive prescriptions. In fact, because these animal feces are highly acidic, they do have a certain spermicidal effect. However, the strong smell of animal feces would obviously affect the "sexual interest" of ancient couples.

7. Drinking Mercury

There is also the method of drinking mercury. Mercury can indeed be used as a contraceptive, but mercury is highly toxic. Maybe drinking a small amount will not kill you. Now, in the northern rural areas of our country, many elderly people used to drink mercury as a method of contraception when they were young, which is definitely very harmful to the body. Therefore, in the past, a small amount of mercury was put into the tea or daily food that prostitutes drank. It was said that the effect was very good. Of course, the prostitutes were kept in the dark and thought it was incense ash or something like that which could be used for contraception. Otherwise, the prostitutes would not dare to drink it because they knew mercury was poisonous! According to modern scientific research, the use of mercury as a contraceptive does make sense.

Mercury can cause menstrual disorders in women. It has been reported that the incidence of menstrual disorders in female workers who are exposed to the highest allowable concentration level of mercury vapor in the working environment for a long time is 2-3 times higher than that in the normal control group. Common symptoms include excessive menstrual flow, prolonged menstruation and dysmenorrhea. There are also cases where the menstrual flow is too small and the number of days of menstruation is reduced. Mercury can cross the placenta and cause miscarriage or premature birth.