--- title: See the Bizarre History of Contraception in This Fascinating PSA description: A new PSA shows the lengths that women have gone to in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy canonical: https://time.com/3421800/contraception-history-wtfp-psa/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-23T17:21:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:01:40.179Z og:title: The History of Contraception Is Bizarre, Gross and Necessary og:description: Get ready to cringe og:url: https://time.com/3421800/contraception-history-wtfp-psa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5835ee5f6f3cebb/69869ab106f2c11f0f32fcc8/birth-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4752 og:image:height: 2673 og:image:alt: ontrol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The History of Contraception Is Bizarre, Gross and Necessary twitter:description: Get ready to cringe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5835ee5f6f3cebb/69869ab106f2c11f0f32fcc8/birth-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Bizarre History of Contraception in This Fascinating PSA > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3c4e8a52-807b-452c-b75d-8abf60414997&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: History's Worst Contraceptives- WTFP! — WheresTheFP.org [Watch (HLS stream): History's Worst Contraceptives- WTFP! — WheresTheFP.org](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/riNGyxNH.m3u8) (1:36)  _Published 2014-09-24. History's Worst Contraceptives- WTFP! — WheresTheFP.org_ by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Sep 23, 2014 5:21 PM UTC History's Worst Contraceptives- WTFP! — WheresTheFP.org by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Sep 23, 2014 5:21 PM UTC Get ready to cringe. A new PSA from EngenderHealth’s [WTFP?! (Where’s The Family Planning) Campaign](http://www.engenderhealth.org) takes viewers on a tour through history and the myriad ways women have tried to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Many of the methods, outlined in the video above, are unsavory at best and dangerous at worst. In ancient Egypt, women used “crocodile dung mixed with honey” for spermicide. In ancient Greece, women drank lead-riddled “blacksmith water,” which is toxic. And in the U.S. during the 1960s, women would put fizzing cola in their vagina after sex as a bizarre — and misguided — way to prevent pregnancy. (The birth control pill was introduced in the U.S. in 1960, but as [TIME noted in its 50th anniversary story](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983884,00.html) about the pill, “women usually had to be married to get it.”) But the point of the video isn’t just to give us a look back on the weird ways women have tried to control their bodies. According to EngenderHealth, a New York City-based non-profit that focuses on women’s reproductive health, today more than 220 million women around the world want to use contraceptives, but can’t access them. Factors such as income, cultural and religious restrictions, lack of information and poor healthcare can all prevent women from safely and effectively preventing pregnancy. Even in the U.S., access to birth control is not universal and measures to make it free have often been met with severe backlash. Remember [Sandra Fluke](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2128881%5F2128882%5F2129176,00.html)? This matters. A [2013 report by the Guttmacher Institute](http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/2013/03/access-to-contraception-increases-social-and-economic-benefits-for-women-and-society/) found that women who can control when they have children, not to mention how many they have, are more likely to fulfill their education and career goals, and earn higher wages. What’s more, access to contraception has also been linked to lower rates of maternal and infant deaths. So if EngenderHealth’s unsettling video and campaign helps increase awareness and access to contraceptives, it’s worth cringing through. ## Transcript In every era women have wanted to decide if and when they have children. As a result they've endured some of history's worst contraceptives. In ancient Egypt crocodile dung mixed with honey was used as a spermicide. Ew. While in middle ages Europe, people believed wearing weasel testicles during sex would prevent pregnancy. Nope. As for oral contraception, French women tried onion juice. Ancient Greek women drank blacksmith water filled lead. And in frontier Canada, women tried mixing ground beaver testicles with moonshine. Which did nothing except get them drunk. [ NOISE ] Women also had to insert some rather strange things into their bodies. Little thimbles were common as diaphragms. Condoms made of pig intestines were used for several hundred years. And as recently as the 1960s, American women tried to using fizzy Cola to wash out sperm after sex. But the worst. Right now, there are 220 million women around the world who want access to contraceptives and family planning but can't get them. Even though women with access to family planning are more likely to have safer pregnancies, healthier children, stay in school longer and earn more. So, where's the family planning? [ MUSIC ] After all we're way past weasel testicles, aren't we? 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