OK... Prostitutes...

[Neil]

...how did the oldest profession actual work before say the mid 1900s... Surely without contraceptives the workers would be getting up the duff regularly, which isn't great for business, yet alone moral!?

[EvilNed]

There's been contraceptives before the 20th century. It just wasn't a hundred percent dafe, but heck. There are some crazy ol' herbs out there. Otherwise, there's always that good ol' kick in the belly.

[bassman]

Otherwise, there's always that good ol' kick in the belly.

Not the nicest way to put it:lol:, but yeah....there are other ways of "taking care of it"...

[Mike70]

in the ancient world there were a couple of herbs, asafetida, F. jaeschikaena, and silphium that were used quite effectively to prevent conception or terminate a pregnancy. they are members of the fennel family. silphium was actually driven to extinction because of its effectiveness as a contraceptive. it resisted all attempts at cultivation and could only be harvested from the wild. there was such a huge demand for it that it was completely wiped out.

in modern lab tests F. jaeschikaena has proven to be almost 100% effective at preventing conception.

[Mr.G]

Otherwise, there's always that good ol' kick in the belly.

I'm going to hell but I did :lol: at the comment.

[Skippy911sc]

There was a Family Guy episode that showed women walking up a large flight of stairs and then falling off onto their bellies at the other end...I laughed and my wife walked out of the room...

They had some of the herbage mentioned in the show Deadwood.

[bassman]

in the ancient world there were a couple of herbs, asafetida, F. jaeschikaena, and silphium that were used quite effectively to prevent conception or terminate a pregnancy. they are members of the fennel family. silphium was actually driven to extinction because of its effectiveness as a contraceptive. it resisted all attempts at cultivation and could only be harvested from the wild. there was such a huge demand for it that it was completely wiped out.

in modern lab tests F. jaeschikaena has proven to be almost 100% effective at preventing conception.

....tell me that you just now looked all that up.:shifty::p

[Neil]

....tell me that you just now looked all that up.:shifty::p

Wow! You of course have to wonder how these folks worked out what it was good at...

I'll swear I heard about egyptians and something to do with crocodile dung :hurl:

EDIT: Yes! http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1866044,00.html

[Mike70]

....tell me that you just now looked all that up.:shifty::p

nah, i already knew about the herbs, esp. silphium. my edumakayshun is in classical civ. and when i was in school, i always wondered about this sort thing.

[Neil]

The crocodile dung must have been rank... OK it may have worked but you'd think the smell would put a prostitute out of business!

[Mike70]

Wow! You of course have to wonder how these folks worked out what it was good at...

a guess would be that since these plants are in the fennel family and fennel was commonly used in cooking in the ancient world. they were commonly eaten items, so i would imagine that their effects became apparent as people experimented with cooking and eating them. in the case of silphium, it was the juice of plant that was mixed with water and drunk once every 28 days or so.

silphium is a very well known plant to people involved in classical studies. the ancients were nuts about and devoted a lot of time to singing its praises.

[darth los]

Wow! You of course have to wonder how these folks worked out what it was good at...

I'll swear I heard about egyptians and something to do with crocodile dung :hurl:

EDIT: Yes! http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1866044,00.html

Shit. I'd roll around in it if it meant that there wouldn't be another mouth to feed. Those little rugrats are expensive dudes.







:cool:

[Chic Freak]

I think it was Liam who told me that some ancient Egyptian women's bodies were found with pebbles in the womb to prevent pregnancy (presumably they interfere with the fertilised egg attaching to the wall, rather like a primitive coil).

My grandmother (born 1922) said she once asked her grandmother how women of her generation managed to not end up with millions of kids when they weren't able to "take precautions." My great-great-grandmother apparently said, "of course we did, we just didn't talk about it like people do now."

Annoyingly, my nan was too shy to pursue the subject but it goes to show that the average British woman did have access to some sort of contraceptive(s) in the 1800s!

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'm sure there was a famous Victorian woman who went to jail for educating unmarried working class women about contraception. I think there was also a landmark in this period of an upper class married woman going to a doctor to get contraception- up to then it was only unmarried women who did it because after you were married your life was supposed to be all about the children. So it must have been well-established if you could just pop to your doctor for stuff.

[darth los]

My grandmother (born 1922) said she once asked her grandmother how women of her generation managed to not end up with millions of kids when they weren't able to "take precautions." My great-great-grandmother apparently said, "of course we did, we just didn't talk about it like people do now."


And that's a very key point chic. People have always been, well, people.

To paraphrase Logan's " same creature funtioning less perfectly" line:

We behave exactly like those in biblical times. We are the same creature only with more technology. But human beings don't change we've always had the same needs and behaviors.








:cool:

[capncnut]

1700: Scenes From London Life by Maureen Waller. Covers this subject in great depth.

[MaximusIncredulous]

Talk about deja vu:

http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/showthread.php?t=7021

[Neil]

Talk about deja vu:

http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/showthread.php?t=7021

Damn you! Damn you to hell! :)

You know, I though it felt familiar!