Editing Condom (section)

=== Before the 19th century ===
Whether condoms were used in ancient civilizations is debated by archaeologists and historians.<ref name="collier">{{cite book |first=Aine |last=Collier |year=2007 |title=The Humble Little Condom: A History |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, NY |isbn=978-1-59102-556-6}}</ref>{{Rp|11}} In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, pregnancy prevention was generally seen as a woman's responsibility, and the only well documented contraception methods were female-controlled devices.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|17,23}} In Asia before the 15th century, some use of [[Glans penis|glans]] condoms (devices covering only the head of the penis) is recorded. Condoms seem to have been used for contraception, and to have been known only by members of the upper classes. In China, glans condoms may have been made of oiled silk paper, or of lamb intestines. In Japan, condoms called ''Kabuto-gata'' (甲形) were made of tortoise shell or animal horn.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|60–1}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Matsumoto|first1=Y. Scott|last2=Koizumi|first2=Akira|last3=Nohara|first3=Tadahiro|date=October 1972|title=Condom Use in Japan|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1964707|journal=Studies in Family Planning|volume=3|issue=10|pages=251|doi=10.2307/1964707|jstor=1964707|access-date=27 June 2022|archive-date=27 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627145354/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1964707|url-status=live}}

Condom Use in Japan,</ref>
[[File:Shun- Kabuto-gata, yoroi-gata 春- 甲形, 鎧形 (Spring- Helmet, Armour) (BM 2012,3051.1).jpg|Japanese [[Shunga]] [[Ukiyoe]] from the 19th century depicting Kabuto-gata among its sex toys used among women, stored by the [[British Museum]]|thumb|upright=1.2]]
In 16th-century Italy, anatomist and physician [[Gabriele Falloppio]] wrote a treatise on [[syphilis]].<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|51,54–5}} The earliest documented strain of syphilis, first appearing in Europe in a 1490s outbreak, caused severe symptoms and often death within a few months of contracting the disease.<ref name=Scars_of_Venus>{{cite book |last=Oriel |first= JD |title=The Scars of Venus: A History of Venereology |location=London |publisher=Springer-Verlag |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-387-19844-6}}</ref><ref name=Diamond1>{{cite book |last=Diamond |first= Jared |year=1997 |title=Guns, Germs and Steel |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton |page=210 |isbn=978-0-393-03891-0}}</ref> Falloppio's treatise is the earliest uncontested description of condom use: it describes linen sheaths soaked in a chemical solution and allowed to dry before use. The cloths he described were sized to cover the glans of the penis, and were held on with a ribbon.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|51,54–5}}<ref name=pai>{{cite web |title=Special Topic: History of Condom Use |publisher=Population Action International |year=2002 |url=http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Reports/Condoms_Count/Special_Topic_History_of_Condom_Use.shtml |access-date=18 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714101959/http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Reports/Condoms_Count/Special_Topic_History_of_Condom_Use.shtml |archive-date=14 July 2007}}</ref> Falloppio claimed that an experimental trial of the linen sheath demonstrated protection against syphilis.<ref name="youssef">{{cite journal |last=Youssef |first=H |date=1 April 1993 |title=The history of the condom |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=86 |pages=226–228 |pmid=7802734 |issue=4 |doi=10.1177/014107689308600415 |pmc=1293956}}</ref>

After this, the use of penis coverings to protect from disease is described in a wide variety of literature throughout Europe. The first indication that these devices were used for birth control, rather than disease prevention, is the 1605 theological publication ''De iustitia et iure'' (On justice and law) by Catholic theologian [[Leonardus Lessius]], who condemned them as immoral.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|56}} In 1666, the English Birth Rate Commission attributed a recent downward fertility rate to use of "condons", the first documented use of that word or any similar spelling.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|66–8}} Other early spellings include "condam" and "quondam", from which the Italian derivation ''guantone'' has been suggested, from ''guanto'', "a glove".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=condom |title=Condom &#124; Search Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=18 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118222011/http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=condom |archive-date=18 January 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Condom 1900.jpg|left|thumb|A condom made from animal intestine circa 1900]]
In addition to linen, condoms during the [[Renaissance]] were made out of intestines and bladder. In the late 16th century, Dutch traders introduced condoms made from "fine leather" to Japan. Unlike the horn condoms used previously, these leather condoms covered the entire penis.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|61}}

[[File:Condoomgebruik in de 19e eeuw.png|right|thumb|170px|[[Giacomo Casanova]] tests his condom for holes by inflating it]]
[[Giacomo Casanova|Casanova]] in the 18th century was one of the first reported using "assurance caps" to prevent impregnating his mistresses.<ref>Fryer P. (1965) 'the Birth controllers', London: Secker and Warburg and Dingwall EJ. (1953) 'Early contraceptive sheaths' BMJ, 1 Jan: 40–1 in Lewis M. 'A Brief history of condoms' in Mindel A. (2000) 'Condoms', BMJ books</ref>

From at least the 18th century, condom use was opposed in some legal, religious, and medical circles for essentially the same reasons that are given today: condoms reduce the likelihood of pregnancy, which some thought immoral or undesirable for the nation; they do not provide full protection against sexually transmitted infections, while belief in their protective powers was thought to encourage sexual promiscuity; and, they are not used consistently due to inconvenience, expense, or loss of sensation.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|73,86–8,92}}

Despite some opposition, the condom market grew rapidly. In the 18th century, condoms were available in a variety of qualities and sizes, made from either linen treated with chemicals, or "skin" (bladder or intestine softened by treatment with [[sulfur]] and [[lye]]).<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|94–5}} They were sold at pubs, barbershops, chemist shops, open-air markets, and at the theater throughout Europe and Russia.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|90–2,97,104}} They later spread to America, although in every place there were generally used only by the middle and upper classes, due to both expense and lack of sex education.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|116–21}}