6 bizarre things ancients used to prevent pregnancy

There was an age when condoms and hormonal contraception weren’t even imagined yet. People based contraception on hit and trial, on things that coincidentally worked for them (or not), on anything such as weasel testicles or lemons, but science. Following is a list of such bizarre practices that were followed by people and are, thankfully, outdated now.

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Or a donkey’s poop, a dark cat’s bone, or mule’s uterus to that purpose. They were hung around the woman’s neck or were tied on her thigh to prevent pregnancy through witchery. We aren’t sure about any magic there but for a man who was having intercourse with a woman beaded with weasel testicles, he sure couldn’t perform his best!

People believed that inserting lemons inside the woman’s pudendum could prevent pregnancy. It was believed that the citric acid in the lemon could kill sperms. In fact, there have been mentions of women using lemon rinds to keep the sperms from entering their bodies.

In ancient Egypt, women would make a paste of crocodile poop and honey and shove it up their vaginas to create a ‘blockage’ for the sperm to go ahead. And in fact, records show that it worked for many.

People in Greece used to believe that olive oil mixed with cedar oil can be used as an effective spermicide. It was known to decrease the mobility of sperms and would give women some time to wash out the ejaculate from their vaginas.

Many women in China and Greece were known to consume lead-infused water to prevent getting pregnant. And for that matter, lead is actually known to lower a woman’s fertility but it has many, many other side-effects too, often overlooked then.

As lead, as mercury. It was also consumed orally by women of China to stop pregnancy, while overlooking all the side effects that could happen, such as kidney or brain damage.

We don’t know what harm they may cause. If you are tempted to try any, forget you ever read this and move on with your life.