Just a place to say sponge !
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nighthawk263
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maybe of interest in this thread 
Menstrual Sponges
NEXT: Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?) - The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge - The contemporary Gynotex
Women have probably used sponges to absorb menstrual discharge for thousands of years, but they have also used them as contraceptives and for putting medication into the vagina (as with tampons; see hieroglyphics from about 1550 BCE). Sometimes it's hard to say which sponge was used for what - but maybe women sometimes used them for all three purposes.
During the era of the Comstock Act in the U.S.A., 1873 to well into the 20th century, when "artificial" contraception was illegal, American women used sponges to hold liquids that killed sperm as well as to absorb menstrual blood, but ads could not say this._Thus the assertion in the ad, below, that the sponge could keep the vagina "germ free," similar to the wording of douche ads (see a Lysol ad, among others, for this dual purpose).
The ad is from the American Medical Association Archives, Chicago, and reproduced in Devices & Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, by Andrea Tone (Hill and Wang, 2001 - buy it). Undated, it looks to me as if it's from the early 20th or late 19th century. Professor Tone notes that the word "germ" really means "sperm."
found on http://www.mum.org/sponge.htm
Menstrual Sponges
NEXT: Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?) - The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge - The contemporary Gynotex
Women have probably used sponges to absorb menstrual discharge for thousands of years, but they have also used them as contraceptives and for putting medication into the vagina (as with tampons; see hieroglyphics from about 1550 BCE). Sometimes it's hard to say which sponge was used for what - but maybe women sometimes used them for all three purposes.
During the era of the Comstock Act in the U.S.A., 1873 to well into the 20th century, when "artificial" contraception was illegal, American women used sponges to hold liquids that killed sperm as well as to absorb menstrual blood, but ads could not say this._Thus the assertion in the ad, below, that the sponge could keep the vagina "germ free," similar to the wording of douche ads (see a Lysol ad, among others, for this dual purpose).
The ad is from the American Medical Association Archives, Chicago, and reproduced in Devices & Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, by Andrea Tone (Hill and Wang, 2001 - buy it). Undated, it looks to me as if it's from the early 20th or late 19th century. Professor Tone notes that the word "germ" really means "sperm."
found on http://www.mum.org/sponge.htm
All the guys who read this are probably going "EEewwww" right now. Someone told me about these sponges about 6 months ago now, i'd never heard of them before. Thought about trying them out, but not for contraceptive uses!!!The Tale of the Sponge
or God may give us nuts but he won't crack them for us
The shirt-collar has one, so too has the darning needle. The drop of water, the teapot, the bottleneck and the piggybank, even the flea and the dung beetle have one. Only the sponge has no fairy-tale of its own. A dirty pupil from a poor home, our sponge was hard pressed serving in the house of Hans Christian Andersen. The bathwater was cold, the soap stinging and the Danish writer was either edgy or away on his travels. Books became his window on the world! By now he has become scruffy, worn down and washed out and he would like to be swallowed up by the world of literature himself. For everyone is equal there. Everyone knows which part to play; one can keep on searching, being unhappy or insecure and even be praised for it. The story we bring you is, of course, a sad tale. Being a fairy-story, it is about something that is missing. It has to do with loneliness, with sulkiness, false pride and injured vanity. And with the belief that a well cultivated sense of vanity brings with it a measure of luck. It is also about the world of books. Or to put it more precisely, it has to do with the great writer's birthday and with the question of how to secure a crumb of immortality in your own lifetime. It is a story for children, a fairy-tale for grown-ups, and a sometimes-sad work for a truly hilarious sponge
or God may give us nuts but he won't crack them for us
The shirt-collar has one, so too has the darning needle. The drop of water, the teapot, the bottleneck and the piggybank, even the flea and the dung beetle have one. Only the sponge has no fairy-tale of its own. A dirty pupil from a poor home, our sponge was hard pressed serving in the house of Hans Christian Andersen. The bathwater was cold, the soap stinging and the Danish writer was either edgy or away on his travels. Books became his window on the world! By now he has become scruffy, worn down and washed out and he would like to be swallowed up by the world of literature himself. For everyone is equal there. Everyone knows which part to play; one can keep on searching, being unhappy or insecure and even be praised for it. The story we bring you is, of course, a sad tale. Being a fairy-story, it is about something that is missing. It has to do with loneliness, with sulkiness, false pride and injured vanity. And with the belief that a well cultivated sense of vanity brings with it a measure of luck. It is also about the world of books. Or to put it more precisely, it has to do with the great writer's birthday and with the question of how to secure a crumb of immortality in your own lifetime. It is a story for children, a fairy-tale for grown-ups, and a sometimes-sad work for a truly hilarious sponge