The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

'Product number two' and millions of abortions a year: how they were protected in the USSR

'03.09.2020'

Source: Bigpicture.ru

Contrary to the popular saying that there is no intimacy in the USSR, he was in spite of everything and often demanded protection. But with contraception, there was just a problem - barrier and oral contraceptives available to the entire civilized world were in short supply. If they appeared on sale, then in quality and performance, which completely discouraged any desire. How did they protect themselves in a country where even toilet paper was a luxury? Tells Bigpicture.

Photo: Shutterstock

The country that launched rockets into space and built nuclear icebreakers could not even provide its citizens with condoms. Therefore, sex in the USSR was a risky occupation for many years. Only married women who were confident in their partner and allowed the option of having a child could indulge in passion without fear.

All other categories of ladies were forced to play roulette, in which the "prize" could be an unwanted pregnancy or a venereal disease. The number of abortions in the Union was incredible - with a population of 140 million, 5 million pregnancies were terminated in hospitals alone a year.

The abortion business was on stream - despite the impressive cost of the procedure of 40-50 rubles, many doctors did not even bother to do local anesthesia. And they didn’t really try, so the number of complications was always great. But before getting to such a procedure, I had to listen to moral teachings about the moral side of the issue and terrible stories about infertility in the office of the district gynecologist.

It is not surprising that many girls turned to dubious private "specialists" or tried to disrupt pregnancy using artisanal methods. There were many ways to get rid of the fetus, and for these purposes the most barbaric and strange methods and substances were used. Sometimes it all ended in disability or even the death of a pregnant woman.

The most popular method of protection in the republics of the Union was coitus interruptus. This method had many disadvantages, ranging from the need to be constantly on the alert to its questionable effectiveness. In addition, this method of contraception did not protect against sexually transmitted infections in any way.

In those cases when something went wrong, it was necessary to move to "plan B", which implied various kinds of douching and flushing. For this, both banal water and "heavy artillery" in the form of a vinegar solution could be used. There were also legends that vigorous jumping and squatting, which many believed in, helped to remove the semen.In the 50s of the last century, condoms began to appear in pharmacies in large cities. The country bought abroad, for example, in Hungary and the GDR, relatively high-quality products that meet international standards, but they were not available to mere mortals. Coveted imports were raked "by pull" even before they hit the shelves.

On the subject: Honor, conscience and chastity: myths and truth about relationships and marriage in the USSR

Ordinary Soviet citizens, with a certain amount of luck, could get hold of domestically produced products, at 2 kopecks apiece. But many have given up on such happiness for two reasons. First, Soviet condoms could be considered real desire killers. These were thick-walled rubber products with a corresponding smell and generously sprinkled with talcum powder.

And secondly, there was no sexual culture in the country as such, and everything that was associated with intimate relationships was considered shameful and depraved. The condom trip to the nearest pharmacy turned into a real quest. Only a man could do this, since a woman buying “rubber product No. 2” 30-40 years ago would have been simply incinerated by fellow citizens with a glance. visitors. A real gift of fate was a man's pharmacist, in whom one could call a spade a spade. But this was a rarity and therefore the would-be lover had to crumple and blush under the strict gaze of the pharmaceutical industry workers.

Photo: Shutterstock

In order not to call things by their proper names in the pharmacy, dozens of euphemisms were invented, today causing unrestrained fun. By the way, there are many legends about the origin of the code and very chaste name "rubber product No. 2". The most common one says that it is all about the three types of rubber used in the USSR for the production of rubber products. Allegedly, the most important thing was produced from the first grade - gas masks, so they were called "rubber product No. 1". Condoms were produced from the second grade - "rubber product No. 2", and from the third - office erasers - "product No. 3". But in reality, this is not at all the case, but everything is much simpler. When condoms were first produced in the Soviet Union, and this was the 1930s, there were three sizes of these products: No. 1 - small, No. 2 - medium, No. 3 - large ... The first number was not in demand, since no man is recognized in the modest size of the organ. The third was also not very popular, so soon only "condoms No. 2" remained in pharmacies.

But since the word "condom" in a decent society could get you in the neck, even on the pharmacy price tags they modestly indicated: "rubber product No. 2". And so it happened.

What about oral contraceptives? In the USSR, they were produced in several types, but it was almost impossible to find them on sale. It was even more difficult for the owner of the coveted package of pills to come to the doctor and ask him to tell how and how much to take, so that the effectiveness is maximum, and the harm to the body, as little as possible.

On the subject: Soviet habits that seem wild to the modern generation

Women who were lucky enough to get birth control pills kept them for emergencies and, in case of suspected pregnancy, took the whole package. Such a hormonal shock for few people passed without a trace and the side effects in the form of excess weight or severe abdominal pain did not surprise anyone. In the second half of the 80s, when birth control pills could be obtained relatively easily, they were still not very popular. A typical "soviet" approach is not to use contraception until the first pregnancy, for some reason it was adopted by gynecologists and doctors were extremely reluctant to prescribe such drugs and did not like to mention them too much.

As we can see, beautiful and safe love in the USSR was available to a very select few, and most of the country's inhabitants were forced to be inventive or to take risks. The sexual literacy of the population was also very low, which caused comic and, alas, tragic situations out of the blue. In the USSR, apart from sex, there were not many things, for example, poverty, drug addiction, domestic violence, and what we are beginning to understand only today.

Follow success stories, tips, and more by subscribing to Woman.ForumDaily on Facebook, and don't miss the main thing in our mailing list

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By: XYZScripts.com