14 weird contraception methods from history: from weasel testicles to fish bladder condoms

Hilary Mitchell reveals some of the most unusual (and downright dangerous) ways our ancestors tried to prevent pregnancy – from consuming deadly seeds to harvesting the testicles of unfortunate weasels

A colourful surreal collage set against a purple background. It features a large green alligator head on the left, a honey dipper dripping honey, a sliced lemon, a classical-style illustration of a person drinking from a jug, a small brown‑and‑white weasel, a long piale pink condom, and reddish‑brown pods with bright red and black seeds

Published: May 10, 2026 at 3:30 PM

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Before the pill became widely available in the 1960s, making contraception more accessible and reliable, our ancestors went to very inventive, but often just as ineffective, lengths to control reproduction.

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Some people swore by magical amulets made from animal parts; others put their faith in fish bladder condoms, drinking vinegar or sneezing after sex. But which methods were actually used, which might have worked, and which were a fast track to infection, infertility... or pregnancy?

Hilary Mitchell explores the strange world of historical contraception: from the bizarre to the borderline brilliant.

A stone sculpture of an Egyptian pharaoh with the crocodile-headed god Sobek

The crocodile-god Sobek (left) depicted alongside Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Ancient Egyptians used crocodile poo as contraception – a symbol of Sobek’s associations with fertility | Credit: Getty Images

1. Crocodile dung

The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (c1850 BC) suggests that ancient Egyptians were already experimenting with contraception, albeit in ways that might seem unappealing today. One recipe lists crocodile dung as a means of preventing pregnancy, though the papyrus is quite vague about how it was meant to be used.

It doesn’t say whether the dung was burned, sprinkled or applied in some other fashion, though later historians have speculated that it may have formed part of a vaginal pessary designed to block the cervix.

What does seem likely is that the choice of crocodile dung wasn’t purely practical: crocodiles were powerful, feared creatures associated with the god Sobek, a deity linked to fertility and virility, and by using ‘Sobek poo’, they may have believed the remedy would be imbued with sympathetic magic: using symbolic animal parts in the hope of influencing human fertility.

An ancient Egyptian papyrus page filled with lines of hieratic script written in black ink, with red ink marking headings or key sections. The surface shows the texture of aged papyrus.

A fragment of the Ebers Papyrus, c1550 BC – one of the ancient sources that refers to honey mixed with acacia as a contraceptive | Credit: Bridgeman Images

2. Honey and acacia paste

Another method mentioned in the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus, as well as later Egyptian sources such as the Ebers Papyrus (c1550 BC), is honey mixed with acacia. Ground acacia fruit, mixed with honey, was applied on linen or wool and then placed in the vagina before intercourse.

It might sound messy and strange, but acacia was an accidentally effective ingredient. When acacia gum or acacia fruit ferments, it produces lactic acid, which lowers vaginal pH and reduces sperm motility. In fact, lactic acid is still used in some modern spermicidal gels.

An open medieval manuscript with an illustration of a veiled figure in green and red robes holding a golden orb on the left page, and a right page filled with brown‑ink Latin text featuring decorative red and blue initials.

An early 14th-century manuscript illustration of Trota of Salerno, the rumoured author of the Trotula texts. One particularly strange suggestion from these texts was to carry around some detached weasel testicles | Credit: Wellcome Images

3. Weasel testicles

In the medieval Trotula texts, a widely circulated 12th‑century European compendium of women’s medicine, the section entitled ‘On Those Who Do Not Wish to Conceive’ includes a series of magical contraceptive prescriptions. One instructs that a woman should carry the womb of a goat that has never borne offspring against her “naked flesh”.

Another suggests that she should take a male weasel, have its testicles removed, and carry the detached testicles tied in goose skin as a charm against pregnancy, which sounds like quite a lot of work. Like the crocodile dung example above, these remedies are examples of sympathetic magic.

Wearing detached weasel testicles might have had a chance at preventing pregnancy though – but as a mood killer, rather than effective birth control.

A medieval black and white sketch of the uterine system – a circle with two ear shapes at the top and a cylindrical stand at the bottom

The earliest surviving illustration of uterine anatomy, from the ninth century AD. Hundreds of years earlier, the ancient Greeks believed that semen could be expelled from a woman’s womb by sneezing

4. Sneezing violently after sex

The idea that a woman could prevent pregnancy by sneezing, coughing, jumping, cleansing the vagina or squatting after sex is discussed across Hippocratic and later Greek medical literature. The Greeks didn’t realise that sperm could move rapidly beyond the vagina through the cervix. To them, it was simply a liquid like any other, which could be pushed back out.

Sneezing was seen as one of the body’s strongest ‘expulsive’ actions: it was thought it would create internal pressure that could help to prevent semen from ‘settling’ in the womb.

An ancient Greek kylix decorated with black‑figure human figures and inscriptions.

A seventh-century BC wash drawing depicting the weighing and loading of silphium. Since harvested to extinction, the herb may have been used as a contraceptive and abortifacient in ancient Greece

5. Silphium

If you’ve never heard of silphium, it’s probably because it doesn’t exist anymore; it was harvested to extinction in antiquity. The plant was native to a small region around Cyrene (in modern-day Libya) and belonged to the giant fennel family.

According to ancient sources like Theophrastus – writing in the fourth and third centuries BC – it couldn’t be successfully cultivated, only harvested from the wild. By the first century AD, it was already so scarce that only a single stalk was reported to have been found and sent to Emperor Nero.

Soranus of Ephesus, in his trailblazing Gynaecology (second century AD), lists it as a contraceptive that could even terminate early pregnancy at higher doses. Although we can’t test an extinct plant, modern studies on extracts from related species such as ferula assafoetida and ferula orientalis – historically used as substitutes for silphium after it died out – have been found to inhibit implantation of fertilised ova in rats, leading modern researchers to believe the plant may have had genuine contraceptive and abortifacient effects.

A close‑up of dry brown seed pods with curled edges, each filled with shiny red and black seeds, set against green leaves and branches.

Distinctively marked rosary peas. These highly toxic seeds were used as oral contraceptives, but they risked causing organ failure | Credit: Getty Images

6. Poisonous seeds

Jequirity seeds (abrus precatorius), also known as rosary peas, are small, bright red seeds that contain abrin, a highly toxic protein similar to ricin. In some traditional African and Indian folk medicine systems, powdered jequirity seeds have historically been used as oral contraceptives and, in certain regions, as vaginal pastes or suppositories intended to cause miscarriage, reflecting the plant’s place in local fertility‑related practices.

However, the seeds’ high toxicity makes any such use very unsafe. Modern analysis confirms that abrin can disrupt egg implantation and inhibit sperm motility in animals, but it also blocks cellular protein synthesis, leading to multi‑organ failure: possibly effective, but not worth the risk.

A botanical illustration labelled Ervum Ervilia (Bitter Vetch), showing a slender stem with paired oval leaflets, a small white tubular flower, and an elongated seed pod.

A botanical illustration depicting a bitter vetch plant, 1886. One ancient method of contraception included steeping the plant’s seeds in a woman’s menses, before inserting them into her vagina | Credit: Getty Images

7. A bean with an insect inside it

The Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) is a large, varied collection of ritual texts compiled in Egypt between the second and fifth centuries AD, written in Greek and Coptic and containing spells, amulets and recipes for medical, protective and magical purposes.

Among the fertility‑related material are several instructions intended to prevent pregnancy. Some amulet lists describe beans – sometimes noted as containing small insects or pierced and tied with mule hide – worn so that the wearer does not conceive. Like the weasel testicles and goat wombs, it was a form of sympathetic magical thinking.

A more elaborate contraceptive ritual in the PGM calls for bitter vetch seeds steeped in the menses of a menstruating woman, placed in her genitals before being removed, combined with other symbolic ingredients, and carried in a leather amulet attached during the waning moon. We’re lucky we can just go to a pharmacy these days.

Two figures in historical dress embrace closely: one in a pink‑red coat with white hair tied back, the other in a green gown. They stand in an elegant interior with a green draped curtain and ornate furniture.

An illustration of Casanova with one of his many lovers. The famous lothario suggested that placing half a lemon rind over a woman’s cervix would prevent a couple from conceiving | Credit: Getty Images

8. Half a lemon

In his classic Medical History of Contraception (1936), Norman Himes cited an 18th‑century claim that serial seducer Giacomo Casanova advocated using the hollowed‑out rind of half a lemon as a primitive diaphragm, placing it over the cervix to help prevent pregnancy.

This anecdote appears in later historical surveys and museum descriptions of contraceptive devices too, which note that the juice was squeezed out and the rind used as a makeshift barrier.

Would it have been in any way effective? Well, citric acid is a mild spermicidal agent, but the fit would be highly variable, as the cervix varies in size and position from woman to woman. Plus, a lemon rind is rigid, irregular and slippery, so it probably wouldn’t have felt very comfortable.

A red‑figure Greek pottery scene showing several mythological figures, including a winged figure offering an object.

A Greek vase decoration featuring Eros, the god of love and desire (centre). Many ancient Greeks used highly toxic lead-based treatments in their efforts to prevent conception

9. Lead ointments

In antiquity, some physicians recommended topical contraceptive ointments containing lead as a means of preventing pregnancy. These mixtures, often applied to the cervix or vaginal canal, combined white lead with oils, resins or herbal pastes, and were intended to act as a physical barrier to sperm.

Primary sources describing such practices include Soranus of Ephesus’ Gynaecology, which details recipes for cervical applications of lead‑based pastes, and Aristotle’s History of Animals (fourth century BC), which notes the use of lead ointments in fertility control.

While intended to block conception, these formulations were highly toxic, often causing sterility, organ damage or miscarriage, illustrating that the ‘contraceptive effect’ was largely a dangerous side effect rather than a reliably safe method.

A historical condom made from animal intestine or bladder material, shown stretched over a wooden form with a red ribbon tied at the open end.

Condoms made from fish swim bladders, like the one above, were first used in the 15th century and continued to be an effective – if smelly – form of contraception for hundreds of years | Credit: Museum of Contraception and Abortion, Vienna

10. Fish bladder condoms

Before vulcanised rubber made modern condoms possible, condoms made from fish swim bladders were among the first forms of barrier contraception in Europe and Asia.

The organs – used by fish to control buoyancy while swimming – were cleaned, sometimes oiled, and tied over the penis before intercourse. They were reusable and washable, and offered some protection against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis.

They weren’t exactly sexy, however. Users often complained of discomfort or fetid smells – they were made from offal, after all.

A black‑and‑white engraved portrait of a bearded man wearing a cap and scholarly robes, shown holding a closed book with both hands inside an oval frame.

Sixteenth-century anatomist Gabriele Falloppio created a simple contraceptive device consisting of a linen sheath soaked in chemicals. It was widely used – but considered immoral by some | Credit: Getty Images

11. Linen sheaths soaked in chemicals

In the 16th century, the Italian anatomist Gabriele Falloppio described a simple yet ingenious device: a linen sheath soaked in a chemical solution and dried before use, worn over the penis to protect against syphilis. He described it as sized to cover just the head of the penis and held in place with a ribbon, which sounds quite festive.

According to his De Morbo Gallico (1564), he tested the method on over a thousand men with apparently successful results. The sheaths were primarily intended to prevent disease, but French erotic work L’Escole des Filles (1655) makes an explicit mention of “un petit linge” (cloth) used to prevent pregnancy, suggesting that cloth sheaths were also used as contraceptives.

In his 1605 work De iustitia et iure, theologian Leonardus Lessius condemned such devices as immoral. In doing so, he handily confirmed their existence and widespread use at the time to historians. Thanks, Leonardus.

A Roman sarcophagus depicts a mother breastfeeding her child. For centuries, women were advised to nurse their infants as long as possible to prolong the time between pregnancies

A Roman sarcophagus depicts a mother breastfeeding her child. For centuries, women were advised to nurse their infants as long as possible to prolong the time between pregnancies | Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen

12. Breastfeeding

In the centuries before modern contraception, breastfeeding offered a surprisingly effective, if unpredictable, way to delay pregnancy. The suckling infant triggers hormonal changes that suppress ovulation, but the method only works under very specific conditions: exclusive breastfeeding, frequent nursing and typically within the first six months postpartum.

Pre-modern societies had no knowledge of hormones, of course, but they still noticed the pattern. Egyptian medical texts, including the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus, remark that women were “less likely to conceive” while nursing, and classical authors like Hippocrates and Galen recommended extended nursing or postpartum abstinence to space out births.

This advice persisted for centuries. In medieval Europe, fertility and childbirth manuals still advised women to nurse infants for one to two years and the 12th-century Salernitan physician Trotula also recommended extended breastfeeding to “delay the return of fertility.”

A red‑figure Greek pottery scene showing a figure in striped classical clothing drinking from a large jug

A woman is shown drinking on a Greek skyphos – a deep, two-handed wine cup. Historical evidence suggests that drinking vinegar was recommended as a contraceptive method right up until the 16th century

13. Drinking vinegar

If women in historical portraits sometimes look rather sour-faced, it might be because they were encouraged to chug vinegar or lemon juice to prevent conception. Acidic drinks were thought to counteract ‘heat’ in the womb, thereby suppressing fertility. From a modern scientific perspective, this method was completely ineffective.

Nevertheless, like breastfeeding, it was recommended for a long time. Hippocrates discussed the use of sour or acidic foods to influence reproductive health, recommending certain beverages to ‘cool’ the womb. Soranus of Ephesus also called for the use of vinegar, sour wines, and acidic drinks in postpartum care and fertility regulation.

Herbal compendia, including Bald’s Leechbook (9th–10th century) and 16th-century Renaissance gynaecological guides, also recommend vinegar or lemon water as a way to prevent conception by ‘cooling’ or ‘drying’ the womb.

An alchemical illustration of a split male‑and‑female figure holding labelled flasks inside a circle marked with astrological symbols.

The four so-called ‘humours’ of the human body, depicted in a woodcut from 1574. Astrologists believed that different lunar phases could affect the balance of the humours and thus a person’s ability to conceive | Credit: Topfoto

14. Astrology

These days, astrology is often considered a pseudoscience, but from the medieval period through to the early modern era, it was a serious tool for managing health and reproduction. Fertility was thought to be influenced by celestial bodies, which governed the ‘humours’ of the human body.

Certain days or lunar phases were deemed more or less favourable for conception, and this extended to other activity too. Household almanacs, widely circulated from the 15th century onward, often combined lunar and planetary data with advice on health, agriculture, and even fertility.

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Some women, such as the 17th-century writer Sarah Jinner, published almanacs offering guidance on “fruitfulness”, warnings about when sexual activity might be ill-advised, and instructions for timing conception according to the stars. So, “sorry dear, not tonight, the moon is in Sagittarius,” may have been an acceptable reason to decline sex.

Authors

Hilary Mitchell

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