This week marks the 50th anniversary of the revolutionary contraceptive pill, which is still, at middle age, enjoying guilt-free sex. Life without “the pill” is something that may be regarded inconceivable (excuse the pun) to many women: young, old, married, single, monogamous. Many who now use it for much more than the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, to treat acne, improve mood and control menstruation.
Of course, contraception was never as simple and available as it is now. Although alternative remedies for contraception have been used for roughly 4,000 years, nothing has ever been as effective as the contraceptive pill. Women in ancient China consumed mercury, Indigenous tribes in Eastern Canada drank tea made from beaver testicles (yum yum) and in one ancient medical manuscript, women were instructed to crush dates, honey and tree bark together to form a paste and apply it in places where the sun certainly does not shine. The Arabs, who definitely did not have animal welfare sensitivities, used to place pebbles in the uteruses of their camels to prevent pregnancies, and 2nd-century BCE recorded the use of
early diaphragms involving an enticing mixture of elephant dung, seaweed and apricot pit
