In the TV series Downton Abbey, Anna Bates, lady's maid to Lady Mary Crawley, buys a 1920s contraceptive sponge for her mistress.
Stopes tried to discover alternatives for families and increase knowledge about birth control and the reproductive system. Options included the cervical cap—which was the most popular—coitus interruptus, and spermicides based on soap and oil.
Lady Mary hands a book to her maid Anna and mentions the author as she sends Anna off on an embarrassing errand — but to a British woman of the early 1920s the implication was clear: the name Marie Stopes meant birth control.
But in 1924, the year Season 5 begins, condoms were the most commonly prescribed method of birth control for men while women used pessaries – rudimentary rubber molds which would later evolve into cervical caps or the slightly larger barrier devices known as diaphragms.
A contraceptive diaphragm or cap is a circular dome made of thin, soft silicone that's inserted into the vagina before sex. It covers the cervix so sperm cannot get into the womb (uterus) to fertilise an egg.
You can get a cervical cap at a pharmacy, drugstore, or health center after you get a prescription from your nurse or doctor. You need to use spermicide with your cervical cap in order for it to work. You don't need a prescription for spermicide.
The technique of cervical cap insemination has been used as an effective, in-clinic treatment option for decades. Pregnancy success rate of up to 20%1.
The earliest forms of birth control, as well as abortion, were found in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as far back as 1850 BC. Papyrus scrolls were found to contain directions on how to make birth control, using honey, acacia leaves, and also lint as a form of cervical cap to prevent sperm from entering the womb.
The best way to avoid pregnancy in the Victorian, going into the Edwardian era, was abstinence. Couples avoided sexual activity because what little they had heard about contraception seemed like an impractical thing to do.
Enovid was the first hormonal birth control pill. G.D. Searle and Company began marketing Enovid as a contraceptive in 1960.
In the TV series Downton Abbey, Anna Bates, lady's maid to Lady Mary Crawley, buys a 1920s contraceptive sponge for her mistress.
Prior to the 1820s, condoms enjoyed a long history, not so much as contraceptive devices, but as a means to prevent the transmission of disease. The late 18th century saw the establishment of two shops in London devoted entirely to the sale of condoms.
1920s. In the 1920s, German-born physician and scientist Ernst Graefenberg developed a silver intrauterine device that women could insert into the uterus to prevent pregnancy.
In the late 1950s, with funding from International Harvester heiress Katharine McCormick, Sanger recruited researcher Gregory Pincus to develop an oral contraceptive. The “pill” was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960.
Marie Stopes was a palaeobotanist and women's rights campaigner who is best known as a pioneer of family planning.
Nineteenth Century
Scientists did not know enough about pregnancy to develop a reliable test. However, for sexually active women, the best method for diagnosing pregnancy remained careful observation of their own physical signs and symptoms (such as morning sickness).
Therefore, while women continued most of their daily work, they avoided activities they believed could halt the flow. The most salient precaution was avoiding getting chilled, whether by bathing, doing the wash in cold water, or working outside in cold, damp weather.
Victorian slang for breasts was 'Cupid's kettledrums'.
The Oldest Methods
Around 1850 B.C. Egyptian women mixed acacia leaves with honey or used animal dung to make vaginal suppositories to prevent pregnancy. The Greeks in the 4th century B.C. used natural ointments made with olive and cedar oil as spermicides. A popular Roman writer advocated abstinence.
Barrier methods were always very popular. A halved, emptied lemon skin placed over the cervix worked well, for example, as did sponges soaked in natural spermicides such as vinegar.
Most partners don't feel cervical caps when they are in place. It's easily reversible, so you can get pregnant right after it's removed. Cervical caps are hormone-free. It can be inserted six hours before sex so it doesn't interrupt foreplay.
If left in for more than 48 hours, the cap slightly increases your risk for a serious infection called toxic shock syndrome.
Disadvantages: The cervical cap is more difficult for women to learn to insert and remove than the diaphragm. If worn for more than two days (48 hours), you run the risk of toxic shock syndrome or unpleasant vaginal odor and discharge. Mild allergic reactions to the silicone or spermicide occasionally occur.