International holidays - International Condom Day

Since 2007, February 13 is celebrated as International Condom Day It serves as a reminder to people who are sexually active that contraception will not only help prevent unwanted pregnancy, but also protect against many types of sexually transmitted infections The condom has a long history Initially they were made from animal skin According to some versions, one of the first famous people to use such “condoms” was Pharaoh Tutankhamun, but there are also more ancient references to these means of contraception To find the first mentions of condoms, we will have to plunge headlong into ancient Greek mythology Almost everyone has heard the legend about the labyrinth of the Minotaur - a monster with the head of a bull, to whom 7 beautiful young men and women were sacrificed every year (or once every nine years) The Minotaur was subsequently killed by Theseus with the help of Ariadne and her guiding thread, but we are more interested in the monster's stepfather - King Minos According to legend, he was the son of Zeus and the princess of Europe that he kidnapped Minos was adopted by the new husband of Europe - the king of Crete When the boy grew up, he began to rule himself and took Helios' daughter Pasiphae as his wife The woman herself was not without sin, because she conceived the Minotaur from a sacrificial bull donated by Poseidon, but her husband’s regular infidelities drove her crazy When the unfaithful husband once again indulged in adultery, she cursed him Along with the seed, he began to spew out snakes and scorpions, which immediately killed his mistresses Minos came up with a way out of the situation He used a goat's bladder as the first female condom The device coped with the task and his new passion was not harmed by the deadly seed What is a condom? A condom (condom) is a medical product used as a barrier-type contraceptive, and also intended to protect against many sexually transmitted diseases Already towards the end of the 15th century, real epidemics of syphilis began This disease was sexually transmitted, and people at that time did not have effective means of protection It is worth noting that syphilis in the Middle Ages was much more dangerous than it is today Nowadays, the disease can lie dormant for years and develops quite slowly During the Renaissance, pustules covered the bodies of the infected for several months, after which death occurred Syphilis has become a problem no less dangerous than the plague In his treatise on syphilis, the Italian physician and anatomist Gabriele Fallopius first mentioned a special remedy for preventing infection It was a narrow linen bag Before use, it was thoroughly soaked in a special composition, and then thoroughly dried The bag was put on the male genital organ and secured with special ties This was the first cloth condom to be mentioned in medical work The publication of the work Fallopia caused a real revolution and bags made of flax for protection against syphilis began to be used everywhere Condoms later became a subject of controversy Some suggested banning them, as men, intoxicated by a sense of security, became promiscuous in their sexual relations Subsequently, flax was replaced by more practical and cheaper leather In 1870, the world's first company to mass produce condoms appeared in Great Britain Back then, these contraceptives were made of rubber At first, layers of raw material were wound onto workpieces followed by vulcanization, but after several decades a new technology appeared - the workpieces were dipped in liquid rubber Condoms were thinner and had no seams In 1920, latex was invented The American company Youngs Rubber Company produced the first batch of condoms from this material They were very thin and could be stored for three years, while rubber products had a shelf life of only three months Condoms are still made from latex today, although some companies use polyurethane as a starting material At the moment, more effective means of protecting against STDs have not yet been invented International Condom Day is a reminder to all adults that health is much more important than momentary pleasure, and unwanted pregnancy is far from the only “side effect” of unprotected sex Although today medicine has made a dizzying leap in its development, many of the sexually transmitted diseases still pose a danger to humans Some of them are still not completely cured and can become a problem for life, and to get rid of others you will have to undergo many courses of therapy, spending a lot of time and sometimes money