Editing Condom (section)

=== 1800 through 1920s ===
[[File:El Paral·lel 1894-1939- exhibit at CCCB in Barcelona (78).JPG|thumb|An old-fashioned condom package]]
The early 19th century saw contraceptives promoted to the poorer classes for the first time. Writers on contraception tended to prefer other birth control methods to the condom. By the late 19th century, many feminists expressed distrust of the condom as a contraceptive, as its use was controlled and decided upon by men alone. They advocated instead for methods controlled by women, such as diaphragms and spermicidal douches.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|152–3}} Other writers cited both the expense of condoms and their unreliability (they were often riddled with holes and often fell off or tore). Still, they discussed condoms as a good option for some and the only contraceptive that protects from disease.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|88,90,125,129–30}}

Many countries passed laws impeding the manufacture and promotion of contraceptives.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|144,163–4,168–71,193}} In spite of these restrictions, condoms were promoted by traveling lecturers and in newspaper advertisements, using euphemisms in places where such ads were illegal.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|127,130–2,138,146–7}} Instructions on how to make condoms at home were distributed in the United States and Europe.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|126,136}} Despite social and legal opposition, at the end of the 19th century the condom was the Western world's most popular birth control method.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|173–4}}

[[File:Surgeon Sage Says.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.9|During World War I, the U.S. military was the only one that did not promote condom use. Posters such as these were intended to promote abstinence.]]
Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, American rates of sexually transmitted infections skyrocketed. Causes cited by historians include the effects of the [[American Civil War]] and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the [[Comstock laws]].<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|137–8,159}} To fight the growing epidemic, sex education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time, teaching about venereal diseases and how they were transmitted. They generally taught abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted infections.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|179–80}} Condoms were not promoted for disease prevention because the medical community and moral watchdogs considered STIs to be punishment for sexual misbehavior. The stigma against people with these diseases was so significant that many hospitals refused to treat people with syphilis.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|176}}

[[File:Condom with manual from 1813.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Condom (and manual) from 1813]]
The German military was the first to promote condom use among its soldiers in the later 19th century.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|169,181}} Early 20th century experiments by the American military concluded that providing condoms to soldiers significantly lowered rates of sexually transmitted infections.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|180–3}} During [[World War I]], the United States and (at the beginning of the war only) Britain were the only countries with soldiers in Europe who did not provide condoms and promote their use.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|187–90}}

In the decades after World War I, there remained social and legal obstacles to condom use throughout the U.S. and Europe.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|208–10}} Founder of psychoanalysis [[Sigmund Freud]] opposed all methods of birth control because their failure rates were too high. Freud was especially opposed to the condom because he thought it cut down on sexual pleasure. Some feminists continued to oppose male-controlled contraceptives such as condoms. In 1920 the Church of England's [[Lambeth Conferences#Sixth Conference (1920)|Lambeth Conference]] condemned all "unnatural means of conception avoidance". The Bishop of London, [[Arthur Winnington-Ingram]], complained of the huge number of condoms discarded in alleyways and parks, especially after weekends and holidays.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|211–2}}

However, European militaries continued to provide condoms to their members for disease protection, even in countries where they were illegal for the general population.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|213–4}} Through the 1920s, catchy names and slick packaging became an increasingly important marketing technique for many consumer items, including condoms and cigarettes.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|197}} Quality testing became more common, involving filling each condom with air followed by one of several methods intended to detect loss of pressure.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|204,206,221–2}} Worldwide, condom sales doubled in the 1920s.<ref name="collier" />{{Rp|210}}