Who is responsible for contraception in your relationship?

The Anicent Sumatrans used to use cups moulded from opium as diaphragms.

With reports that male contraception is well on its way to a reality women around the world can be heard rejoicing. Or are they trembling in fear?

The long awaited male birth control may soon be commonly available. The pill under development works in similar fashion to female birth control by lowering sperm count to a level not conducive for conception. Chemically the pill is made up of testosterone and progestin, hormones that stop the production of sperm.

Seems like it could literally take a load off women who often shoulder the responsibility of not conceiving a child by taking a pill, having an implant or an IUD, using a diaphragm or making sure her partner agrees to wear a condom – or has had a vasectomy.

According to Marianne Mollmann who writes for The Huffington Post the responsibility for birth control has fluctuated historically.

The use of modern contraceptive methods started at least in part as a male project. George Bernard Shaw called rubber condoms the “greatest invention of the 19th century”.

This male control over contraception was seen by some suffrage leaders as immoral, because it made it easier for married men to cheat on their wives. Later feminists saw access to woman-controlled birth control as essential to advancing women as equals, in particular women from the working classes.

Male contraception remains very much in the mix, though, and contraception decisions still are very much a matter of trust and control.

Trust and control. Those are strong words.

Who takes the control in your relationship? Who is responsible for contraception? What about past relationships?

Think about it and think about how lucky we are to be discussing this in 2011 as you flick through this gallery of contraceptive devices from days gone by.

Beaver and weasel testicles used to be taped to the inner thigh of women during the Dark Ages which was to prevent sexual contact (that still works, we understand!) but Canadian fur trappers used to grind beaver testicles into contraceptive elixirs that, evidently, did not work.

During the 1950s, the idea that Coca-Cola was an effective spermicide was popular folklore of the time. Pepsi and another drink local to the island of Malta known as Krest Bitter Lemon have also been rumoured to kill sperm.

Crocodile Dung In Sour Milk And Honey 1500 B.C: Ancient Egyptian documents list recipes for pessaries; concoctions made of a number of ingredients thought to prevent pregnancy and disease.

Goat's Uterus: King Minos of Crete was victim of a curse that turned his semen to scorpions and snakes, so the myth goes. In order to prevent his seed from harming the women he was with, Minos used a goat's bladder as a crude form of female condom.

Fine Leather Condom - 1400s. People continued to experiment with animal entrails as condom-making material up until about the 15th Century. But given the rise of syphilis cases, Dutch traders began importing the latest in "fine leather" condoms from Japan.

Mercury, Strychnine, And Arsenic - 51 BC. Prostitutes in ancient China often drank birth control poisons made of mercury, strychnine, and arsenic that made becoming pregnant impossible. Unfortunately, they also caused amnesia, senility, pain, and often death.

The Anicent Sumatrans used to use cups moulded from opium as rudimentary diaphragms. So, there you go.

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Who is responsible for contraception in your relationship?

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