Elements for a history of the condom in contemporary Spain

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, except during the Second Republic, the rule imposed by the Catholic Church in sexual relations was the prohibition of any << unnatural >> method or technique. The use of a masculine preservative or condom was no exception to this rule. The condom fulfilled two functions: control of fertility and Prevention of sexually transmitted disease (particularly in treatises on prostitution), We examine here the introduction of both the term and its referent toward the end of the eighteenth century, and look at medical discourse in the nineteenth century, often opposed to the use of a condom as protection against venereal disease. However, advertisements in the press, beginning in the twentieth century, and the existence of specialized companies with their corresponding catalogs, show that preservatives were popular in Spanish sexual practices, both for anti-venereal protection and as a contraceptive device.