Rubber product number 1. Why the condom is called "rubber product number two"

16.05.2019

The post-revolutionary period in the history of our country is rich in works of art, household items, amusing fables about people's lives. The older generation discusses taboo things and topics with such gusto, for example, item number 1 that this phrase has become a historical meme.

Why such a name?

In the USSR, it was decided to standardize the products produced by the native industry as much as possible. It is known that condoms were called "RTI No. 2". And about the previous subject in order, there are still discussions, what is encrypted under this marking:

There is a theory that the number is related to the density of the material from which the items necessary for citizens were made, and the larger the number, the thinner it is. The list began with a gas mask, then came contraceptives, an eraser and galoshes. It is believed that condoms were originally in fourth place, but due to consumer complaints about frequent breakthroughs, the composition was changed, and the condom itself was moved to an honorable second place;
The name may refer to the size of personal protective equipment against genital infections. According to the stories, three types were sold in pharmacies: small, medium and large. However, only the second one was popular, including because of the shyness of the Soviet people, and the rest gradually went out of use. Thus, in the first place was a "thimble" of small dimensions.

Rubber product number 1

Citizens of the USSR joked about the system of standardized production of everything and everyone. There were also jokes about the fact that the most dense object made of latex and, accordingly, took the first place in the list was mask. Like the condom, it belonged to the basic necessities and was kept in every home. Schoolchildren and students even received it at school or university in life safety lessons.

For the first time, an analogue of a protective mask was unsuccessfully used by craftsmen who covered the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral with gilding in 1838-1841. Later, Nikolai Zelinsky finalized and improved the model, which later came into service in the Russian Empire during the Civil War.

The most popular instance in the USSR was IP5, he is insulating gas mask model 5, and civil GP 5, for and for which a strong rubber derivative was used. There are five sizes. That is why the participants in the discussion believe that it was not called the first rubber remedy, because each modification had its own order.

In addition, there is an opinion that the story about the existence of products from the 1st to the 4th is a reference to the secrecy of the military industry and the paranoia of the authorities of that period.

RTI or "4 kopecks"

According to another popular version, the first rubber item was a small condom taken off the assembly line. Since it was considered shameful to talk directly about sex in the Soviet Union, all the words associated with it turned into euphemisms.

Initially, the name was directly borrowed from the French language, namely " preservatif". The etymology of the word condom and its rough colloquial variation is not completely known:

Latin roots "condon" - receptacle, "condamina" - house, "cumdum" - sheath;
It may be associated with the name of the French astronomer and traveler Charles de la Condamine, who introduced Europeans to rubber from South America;
People talk about a friend of King Charles II, Dr. Condom, but there is no written mention of this earl, and by the period of the reign of the English monarch, rubber bands had existed for more than a hundred years.

In 1844, the American researcher Charles Goodyear patented a technology for vulcanizing rubber, which makes it possible to obtain a thin and durable material for further use.

TTX and modifications

In the period before the collapse of the Union, condoms were in short supply, did not differ in ease of use and comfort of sensations. The authorities organized streaming production after the passage of the law banning abortions in order to increase the birth rate.

Characteristics and varieties of condoms in the USSR:

The package contains 2 pieces, sprinkled with talc, the cost is 4 kopecks;
They were manufactured in accordance with GOST 4546-49 and 4645-81, the second standard, approved in 1981, has been adopted so far;
The dimensions were 54 mm wide and 180 mm long, they correspond to the European XXL;
Rubber thickness - 0.09 mm, which is twice as thick as modern ones;
Since it was expensive and labor-intensive to obtain latex from hevea juice in the USSR, personal protective equipment was made from both dense and rough rubber;
Until the 80s of the 20th century, they were made by dipping glass rods into a special mixture, and then drying them several times in an oven. Efficiency of the worker for one shift - no more than 40 pieces;
After the approval of the new standard in 1981, a line based on foreign technologies was launched, which produced products in foil packaging, with silicone grease and no sprinkles, a liquid collector at the end, and a price of 10 kopecks.

With the advent of latex, Soviet production ceased to be efficient, the general director of the Bakovsky plant fled, and the line was closed. Since then, on the territory of the Russian Federation, condoms have been made only in the Krasnodar Territory, in the city of Armavir.

Product number 1 in the USSR

The main manufacturer of the main contraceptive was the Baku Republican Plant RTI ( R ezino t technical and products). It opened in 1936 and was located on the territory of the future microdistrict in Odintsovo. According to legend, the loving general commissar Lavrenty Beria had a hand in this initiative, but this is just a myth, since in the 30s he still worked in the Transcaucasus and had no relation to the plant near Moscow.

The plant was faced with the task of providing all residents with rubber "cloaks", however, it was possible to supply 220 million pieces per year for sale with a population of 280 million people, and this is an average of 3 units for each sexually mature man over 20 and under 60 years old.

From the stories of grandparents, you can learn a variety of fables about product number 1. What it was, forum and LiveJournal visitors are still arguing, because everyone heard their own version. We can say that these stories have become the mythology of the Soviet past of our country.

Video poll on the street

In this video, Liana Vasilyeva will conduct a survey on the street and find out what, according to passers-by, was called “product number 1”:

“Something small for the weekend”, “condoms”, “gum bands” - in different countries and at different times, the condom had a lot of names. But only in the USSR deliberately official was adopted - “rubber product number 2”.

The very first condoms existed in ancient Egypt. Once they were intended only for noble people and were made from the bladders and intestines of cattle, from the finest silk, paper, and soaked in special solutions.

But let's find out what was the fate of the "product № 2" in Soviet Union. When in the USSR- in which "there was no sex", - condoms appeared, what they looked like, how much they cost and where they were sold. And also let's talk about how else the Soviet people used "product number two."

When and how did condoms appear in the USSR

It is difficult to say in what year condoms appeared in the USSR. But they came to Russia even before the 1917 revolution. They were imported from Europe, where the production of rubber condoms had been established since the end of the 19th century. In addition to rubber, condoms made from materials of animal and vegetable origin, including flax, fish bladders and livestock intestines, were widely used there.

Interestingly, in the 1920s - immediately after the Great October Revolution - in the USSR the sexual revolution almost happened. The Bolsheviks sought to destroy the cult of the church and its Orthodox values, and marital fidelity fell into their number. Therefore, there was a period when the satisfaction of the sexual desires of a Komsomol member was promoted as as natural as the satisfaction of hunger or thirst. On this wave, the production of Soviet condoms began - so that, destroying church values, the new ideology would not destroy the health of the Soviet person.

So already in the first half of the 20th century in the USSR their own condoms appeared - when their production was established by order of Lavrenty Beria in the 1930s. On the one hand, Beria himself was famous for his love affairs and was, of course, personally interested in the production of contraceptives. On the other hand, an epidemic of syphilis was raging in the country and around the world (you can read about it in the article “The History of Syphilis”), and penicillin has not yet been used. Therefore, “product number 2” was all that was left to save the builders of communism from the epidemic.

Why "rubber product number 2"?

Where did such a strange name for condoms come from in the Soviet Union? Why the condom was called a rubber product is quite understandable - latex did not yet exist and all condoms were really made of rubber. And that's why condoms have become "product number two" - there are two versions.

According to one version, the first Soviet condoms were produced at the Bakov rubber products plant near Moscow, where gas masks were also made in addition to them. They were the first product, and the condom, respectively, became "product number two."

Another version says that Soviet condoms were produced in three sizes and were designated № 1 , № 2 and № 3. The average condom size - number 2 - was the most popular, and as a result, the name stuck with all the "gum bands".

What did items number 2 look like?

Soviet condoms

In general, they differed little from modern ones. Unless, when condoms appeared in the USSR, they did not yet have a sperm collection reservoir at the tip.

Condoms were packed in paper packages of two pieces, on which the price and the same “number 2” were printed. Sizes 1 and 3 are extremely rare. The condoms themselves were flesh or gray in color, and were more than twice as thick as today's condoms. What products number two looked like in the USSR can be seen in the photo.

The inside and outside of the condoms were sprinkled with talcum powder to prevent them from sticking together and caking together. Of course, this was a very bad idea. Talc irritated the genitals, and from the vagina could get into the uterus, ovaries, and even into the abdominal cavity. According to the results of modern research, talc "accumulated" in the ovaries can lead to cancer. And once in the abdominal cavity, this powder can cause chronic inflammation or even peritonitis with a high probability.

In addition to these serious shortcomings, Soviet condoms also often broke: you can find such references that out of 10 pieces, about three were torn, but at that time there was no choice.

Where did you buy condoms in the USSR

Condoms in the Soviet Union were sold in pharmacies.

Because most apothecaries were women, in the era before the sexual revolution, men were often embarrassed to purchase rubber products. For women, it seemed completely indecent to buy condoms - contraception was considered an exclusively male responsibility. It was not uncommon for pharmacists to refuse to buy condoms for teenagers, or even inform their parents and school.

The first rubber condoms appeared in the 19th century
Condoms of the 19th century had a seam; seamless condoms were only made in 1912
Latex condoms appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, in the USSR they didn't exist until the 1980s.
At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the condoms used in Europe were made in Germany.
First condom in the USSR appeared in 1936 - in the Moscow region, at the Bakov rubber products plant
From 1953 to 1968, condoms fell in price 10 times - from 20 to 2 kopecks apiece. The reason for this was the monetary reform of 1961. By the 1980s, the condom had risen in price again and cost 10 kopecks.
The first condoms in the USSR were twice as thick as the current ones
It was believed that one condom could withstand 10 liters, or a bucket of water
About 5 million condoms are now used worldwide every year.
There are more than a hundred brands of rubber products
Women buy condoms as often as men, and according to some data, up to 70% of all condoms are bought by women
In addition to the male, there is also a female condom

Facts and legends about condoms - from antiquity to the present day

The history of condoms goes back hundreds of years. Therefore, it is impossible to say exactly when condoms appeared.

Although condoms as we know them are relatively recent, similar condoms have existed since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and ancient Roman emperors. Let's find out what legends about condoms exist.

King Minos

According to legend, it was the Cretan king Minos who invented the first condom to protect his mistresses.

It is said that the wife of Minos was so angry with his constant betrayals that she went to witchcraft. She made the king's seed turn into snakes and scorpions. Of course, it was dangerous for the ruler's mistresses.

To protect his women from hordes of poisonous creatures, Minos used the bladder of a goat - he made a prototype of a condom from it. Moreover, some scholars argue that it was a condom for women, and not for the king himself.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was famous for its free views on sex. There, condoms were widely used. For example, ancient Roman legionnaires were supplied with condoms from the intestines of animals by decree of the emperor. There is also evidence that the soldiers of Rome could make condoms from the tissues of dead enemies. Historians believe that there was also an element of "triumph" over the defeated enemy.

There were even female condoms in Rome - they were made from the bladders of ungulates. Also, to protect against unwanted pregnancy and genital infections, women placed special “tampons” in the vagina. These products were soaked in wine, honey and ... manure. It was assumed that all these substances interfere with pregnancy and protect against infections.

True, more often than a condom, the population of Rome used amulets - which, of course, was completely useless.

Ancient Egypt

According to the information received by archaeologists, the Egyptian nobility and pharaohs also used condoms. In ancient Egypt, they were made from thin animal skin. In addition to their intended use, condoms were worn simply as jewelry - even encrusted with jewelry. In this case, the condom, of course, no longer fulfilled its main function, but rather served as a ritual object.

Today, the National Museum of Cairo has an exhibit called "Pharaoh Tutankhamun's condom" made from such material. It is assumed that it really belonged to the famous pharaoh. The exhibit is very popular.

Middle Ages

For a long time, the condom was practically forgotten, until the syphilis epidemic began in Europe. Mentions of condoms among the European enlightened population began to appear from the 16th century. Male contraceptives were made from very thin linen soaked in a special antimicrobial solution. Interestingly, in a series of experiments, the effectiveness of this method of protection was proven - out of more than a thousand experimental subjects, not one fell ill.

One of the hypotheses about who invented the first condom is that it was Heinrich's court physician. VIII- by the name of Charles Condom, or Kondomsky. Allegedly, the word "condom" came from him. However, this is just one version. As we already know, references to contraceptives close to the modern condom are found in the literature much earlier. The maximum that can be said about Charles Condom is that he "revived" the fashion for condoms in England, and from there it returned to Europe.

Despite this, condoms were officially banned for a long time in almost all Christian countries: planning a pregnancy was and is still considered a sin from the point of view of Christianity. Many people continued to use them, but realized that such behavior was not encouraged by the church.

radioactive condoms

Yes, there were some! In the era of the discovery of radiation, plutonium, radium and other radioactive elements were widely used in everyday life. Radioactive condoms were designed to kill sperm and provide better protection against infections. Also, condoms with radium glowed in the dark, which was presented as an additional element of diversity in love life.

Only by comparing modern condoms with their outdated counterparts, one can understand that the sexual life of a modern person has become much more comfortable and safer. Today, it would never occur to any of the conscientious manufacturers to sprinkle talc on the inside of condoms and make them from untested materials.

Thanks to today's high-quality condoms, hundreds of thousands of women are protected from abortions, and millions of people of both sexes are protected from contracting sexually transmitted infections.

In the USSR, there was an opinion that the inscription on condoms “Product No. 2” is the code for a secret rubber products factory, where gas masks are produced under code No. 1. Today we finally reveal the secret of item #2! But first, a little history...

A bit of history

In the Soviet Union, the production of condoms was mastered in the mid-30s, when a factory of rubber products was built in the village of Bakovka (now the eponymous microdistrict of Odintsovo near Moscow). They were made of pure rubber, easily torn and looked intimidating.

The most widespread post-war contraceptives, which were stamped: "GOST 4645-49". Due to the inertia of the planned economy (and perhaps with the aim of increasing the birth rate), this standard did not change for 32 whole years - right up to 1981, and meanwhile, the product had a lot of addictions!

It was packed in a paper envelope, and at the slightest breach of tightness it quickly dried out, becoming rough like sandpaper and brittle. At the same time, they were packed two in one package (the economy should be economical), and therefore, each time Soviet men faced a choice - either use both products in one night for a short time interval or, save until the next time, risking using an extremely dubious remedy reliability, because a condom, like a sturgeon, has no "second freshness"! So the author of the demotivator that “the Soviet designer is our second parent” is very right in something! And so that the twin condoms would not stick together in a common womb, they were lightly sprinkled with talcum powder (thanks for not sand), which gave the product a nostalgic smell of a rubber heating pad.

The cost of product No. 2 was 43 kopecks per package (before the reform of 1961), later 4 kopecks. Since the mid-60s, when, at the numerous requests of workers, condoms began to be packaged in individual envelopes, they began to be sold at 2 kopecks per piece. A tram ride and a glass of soda water cost about the same - quite an affordable pleasure.

By today's standards, the Soviet condoms of the 49th were rough - their wall thickness was 0.09 mm, which undoubtedly reduced the pleasure from their use. Those who had connections and allowed funds used Italian, imported into the USSR through the GDR, Yugoslavia or fraternal India. Modern contraceptives have a thickness of up to 0.04 mm - for latex. But a thick rubber condom could withstand a load of 200 kg / cm 2 - or a bucket of distilled water (only one, do not try to pour the second one!).

It is widely believed that the Bakovskiy plant was the only condom plant in the whole country, but this, of course, is not true. The plant in Bakovka was the most massive, as it worked for the European part of Russia, but at the same time, the plants in Serpukhov and Armavir supported the necessary capacities. In the Ukrainian SSR, to the delight of the workers, the Krasny Rezinshchik plant was involved. According to unconfirmed data, by the mid-80s, the annual turnover of condoms in the USSR was 200 million! Thus, every inhabitant of the country, including women, children and pensioners, was provided with 1.5 condoms per year.

Oddly enough, such a delicate thing as "size" was taken into account even then. There were three of them: No. 1 - "smallest", No. 2 - "medium", No. 3 - "large". But since the 1st and 3rd numbers were much less in demand (most "users" did not even know that condoms come in sizes), as a rule, only the 2nd was on sale. This age-old Soviet leveling gave rise to the legend about the secret cipher of the defense plant, with which it marks its products - secret and not so.

A young girl runs into a pharmacy.
- Tell me, do you have condoms of large sizes?
- Yes, how old are you?
“Do you mind if I wait here until someone buys?”
(folklore)

Apparently, in order to reduce the awkwardness of the moment for the buyer and for the pharmacist, often on the price tags in pharmacy kiosks, instead of the word "condoms", it was simply "product number 2".

A modest guy in a pharmacy, terribly shy, whispers:
- I'd like... a condom.
Apothecary:
- What-o-o? Speak louder!
- Pre-condom.
- Louder!
- Well, in general ... Polina, Rosa, Elena, Zina, Evdokia, Ruslana, Valya, Aksinya, Tonya, Ira, Vera.
Pharmacist (surprised):
- With one condom and such a horde?!
(folklore)

In the early 80s, in connection with the intensification of scientific and technological progress, new condoms appeared: "GOST 4645-81". They were made on an import line (it became fashionable to buy ready-made products in the “table” 70s, when oil revenues generously provided the USSR with foreign exchange) and had a lot of innovations: a sperm collector at the end, silicone lubricant and reliable foil packaging. Beauty requires sacrifice, and they already cost 10 kopecks.

For the convenience of the buyer, these condoms were produced in blisters of 10 pieces (for which they received the joking nickname "subscription" among the people) - a ruble per package. They were reassuringly labeled "electronic tested" and "treated with silicone". Unfortunately, rubber product No. 2 was in short supply throughout the Soviet years. If someone managed to find the coveted contraceptive on sale, he bought them in bulk for friends and resale, which made the shortage even more permanent.

He loves Russia! Everything is Russian!.. The Russians themselves!.. We are now subsidizing several Soviet joint ventures and building a huge condom factory in the Moscow region with our own money. This, of course, is all a penny for us, but I said: “Mishanya! My country is going through a difficult time right now. You and your millions ... - And he has not measured them! “You must eliminate at least the shortage of condoms in our country!” I, thank God, in this matter understand ...
(V. Kunin - "Ivanov and Rabinovich or Ai Go Tu Haifa")

Of course, the shortage was not universal, and in some cities (especially large ones) condoms were freely available. That's just the Soviet youth, brought up on the harsh example of Lyubvi Yarovaya, was embarrassed to ask them. Safe sex was not promoted at that time, and until the early 90s, when the AIDS epidemic swept through the Union, and all the media began to shout about the importance of protection at once, the girls considered the best means of protection ... not to tell your mother!

In the post-Soviet period, the production of domestic condoms was practically curtailed. The fact is that from the point of view of profitability, any production from latex (which, as we know, is the milky juice of hevea) in our country is obviously unprofitable. Transporting juice from Brazil or Indonesia costs a lot of money, while it is 40% water, so the net product is half as much. Durex Smart firms place their production locally - in Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, where the treasured hevea grows, and where the production of products No. 2 (and No. 1 with No. 3) costs a pittance. From there, condoms are distributed all over the world in beautiful boxes with the inscription "Made in Europe". One of the directors of the Bakovsky plant tried to do the same, but another deterioration in Russia's relations with Vietnam buried all good undertakings. That is why our country does not produce condoms today, but only buys them. And if only condoms!

History reference

The name condom comes from the French "preservatif", which has the same meaning. Everything is simple here. It is much more difficult to find the etymology of the word "condom". It was first recorded at the beginning of the 19th century, although in the form “condon” it was mentioned no later than 1666. According to one version, "condoms" owe their beautiful name to the traveler Condamine (who developed the metric system and proved for the first time that the earth is flattened from the poles), who at the same time discovered latex for Europeans. According to another version, it comes from the name of a friend of the English king Charles II, a certain doctor Kondom or Count Kondom, who allegedly invented condoms. However, there is no written evidence of this person's existence; besides, when Charles II ascended the throne, condoms had been in existence for over 100 years. In Russian, this neologism was quickly replaced by the vulgar "gondon".

The head teacher of the 137th school complains that he constantly finds ... condoms in the women's toilet!
- Comrade captain, it is correct to say condoms!
- Well, it's your condoms, and they have ... condoms!
(From the series "Streets of Broken Lights")

Experienced linguists have also proposed some Latin (this is serious!) Etymologies, such as condon (receptacle), condamina (house) and cumdum (sheath). Also the Italian guantone (from guanto - "glove") ... is this where the expression comes from: no glove no love?

William E. Krak wrote an article in 1981 that concluded: "Regarding the word 'condom', I can only state that its origin remains completely unknown, and this ends the search for its etymology." Modern dictionaries also list the word's etymology as obscure. Sadly.

Photo gallery

In modern English, the literary condom is rarely used. In everyday life, it is replaced by the words: protection (protection) or prophylactic (prevention). In youth slang, contraceptives are called: rubber (elastic band), raincoat (raincoat), as well as sheepskin, buck, johny, willy and jimmy hat. In the UK, condoms are called the refined nickname french letters (French letters). In Australia, dinger and franger.
For those who still believe that condoms were produced in military factories, where gas masks were produced under the number of times, it is useful to know that gas masks also have sizes (for some reason they are called "growths"), so their production is not such a simple nomenclature. it would cost!
If necessary, one condom holds up to 1.5 liters of water, which allows you to use it as a temporary aquarium for fish, if the usual aquarium is not at hand.
If you do not pay attention to the cap (in other words, "semen collector"), an inflated condom can easily replace a balloon for children - when inflated, its length reaches 30 centimeters.
There is a widespread assertion in Internet sources that the Bakovskiy plant was built under the patronage of Lavrenty Beria (allegedly famous for his love of love, which means he was directly interested in a quality domestic product), but in 1936, when the first products No. gray paper bags, Lavrenty Palych still worked in Georgia - as the First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and curating condom rubber factories in the Moscow region, his duties were not included.
Like any other latex product, the condom is waterproof, so if you put documents, wallet and cigarettes in it, they will stay dry even if all your clothes get wet! And two condoms worn over socks will help protect your feet from getting wet.
At present, on the territory of the Bakovsky rubber technical plant there is a warehouse and an office of the Mastak company, which sells professional tools, as well as the production of cosmetics of the Krasnaya Liniya company.
In Soviet times, when tape recorders were in short supply, craftsmen made them from condoms (which were also in short supply).
There were connoisseurs who assured that they also knew the secret of item No. 3! Under it, allegedly, the OZK was produced - a combined-arms protective element, which included a raincoat, protective stockings and rubber gloves. However, both the condom and the OZK are personal protective equipment, you can’t argue with that. According to another version, item No. 3 were school erasers, and item No. 4 (!!) were galoshes. However, no one has ever seen erasers with the inscription "product number 3".
Modern thin-walled condoms have one Achilles' heel - the thinner the product, the more micropores in it. The spermatozoon, of course, will not squeeze through them, but the virus can. Be carefull!
In the 1970s and 1980s, students from sponsored schools helped the Bakov factory pack condoms.
The use of condoms is condemned by the Roman Catholic Church:/

Rubber products No. 2 in the USSR. 1955

After every trip to the shops and markets, another wave of nostalgia comes over me. Shop counters are full of a variety of overseas goods, food of unknown origin, electrical appliances for all occasions. The number of shops and supermarkets will soon be equal to the population of the city. And at the same time we manage to complain about a bad life ...
A new sex shop has opened not far from home. About the goods that are sold there, I can only guess. But it’s impossible to go on an excursion - “damned education”. After all, I grew up at a time when sex remained a closed topic. I remember the phrase "".

Maybe there was no sex, but there were condoms. The first condoms in the USSR began to be manufactured at the Bakov rubber products plant, not far from Peredelkino. Lavrenty Beria personally controlled the release of such products. They called condoms at this time "Product No. 2". In fairness, I want to note that "Products No. 1" were gas masks. People living near this plant often raised the question of the harmfulness of this enterprise. Although the benefits for the state were invaluable, but for the people, the factory working with rubber was an unpleasant neighborhood. All the discontent of the people miraculously quickly ceased.

In the manufacture of condoms, the physical characteristics of the male body were taken into account. So, the size of the product was indicated on the packaging (there were three of them). The first condoms were sold exclusively in state pharmacies. Caring pharmacists demanded to announce the size of the required condom, which was very embarrassing for male buyers. Only men were allowed to buy condoms. A woman who was interested in such products was immediately equated with women of easy virtue. The attitude towards her was appropriate: condemnation, discontent and unpleasant fame.

Condoms were sold in packs of 2. This pleasure cost 2 kopecks. The design of the condom and label has not changed over the years. The technology for the production of condoms remained the same. In 1981, a new GOST for condoms was adopted, and instead of the size, they began to indicate the type on it - A, B, C (numbers 1, 2, 3, respectively). As for the color scheme, basically all the condoms were flesh-colored. Although during the perestroika at the Armavir plant, multi-colored condoms were produced as an experiment: red, blue and green. They were bought mainly out of interest, although apart from the color they did not differ from the usual ones.

Around this time, the era of scarcity began. Therefore, the rooms were already looked at a little - they took what they had. Since product No. 2 was in demand, they began to manufacture it in almost all factories of rubber products in the country.

Speaking of Soviet condoms, I remember the story of a druggist I know. The women sellers were so jealous of people who needed condoms that they often pierced them with a needle. The dirty trick is small - but the soul rejoiced ...

Well, now the country has everything - sex, and a variety of condoms, even special sex shops ... Yes, only life from this, for some reason, is better not to become ...

I wanted to remember today about the items that, fortunately for us, our parents once did not use - about condoms.

Everyone knows that in the Union they were called "rubber product number two." But not according to the popular belief that "in the USSR, different types of rubber differed in density, this density was distinguished by numbers No. 1, No. 2, etc., and the same numbers were assigned to products depending on what rubber they were made of." Like, "Rubber Product No. 1" is a gas mask; "Rubber product No. 2" - a condom; "Rubber product No. 3" - an eraser; "Rubber product No. 4" - galoshes.
It's all tales. In fact, it's all about shyness (the USSR was a very chaste country). It’s just that in pharmacies they were embarrassed to write on the price tags “Condom. Size #2. The price is 2 kopecks”, and that’s where they wrote “Rubber product. No. 2. The price is 2 kopecks.” - that's where it came from.

Why size #2? It's also very simple. Initially, there were three sizes of condoms: No. 1 - small, No. 2 - medium, No. 3 - large. And since small sizes were not in demand (which of the men does not admit under torture that he has a small one?), They gradually disappeared from sale. It was also uneconomical to produce a large size condom (and “Economy must be economical”, remember?), One condom No. 3 took a little more rubber “what is on a national scale ...”, and therefore they also stopped producing them over time. Here the average size No. 2 became the only one, especially since it was suitable for almost any man: it was designed for 54 mm. wide and 180 mm. in length, and this approximately corresponds to the European size XXL - above average.

In the year I was born, my less fortunate sperm peers were driven into white condoms without silicone lubricant and a sperm collector for 2 kopecks. a piece of such individual paper envelopes

Soviet condoms were sold exclusively in pharmacies and pharmacy stalls, and were bought by men. This is because a lady who would take the liberty of inquiring about such products in a pharmacy could immediately be equated to the whole room with women of easy virtue. Recall that even their name was something of a curse: a word derived from "condom."
The procedure for purchasing condoms sometimes resembled a scene from a spy novel. The buyer near the counter, looking around so that no one would overhear, quietly and indistinctly uttered the cherished word “condom” almost in the ear of the pharmacist. The apothecary's face was stern, and also looking around, in a whisper she specified the required number. Then the condoms were quickly wrapped in a napkin and imperceptibly moved along the counter to the buyer.
However, everything happened in life that served as the basis for anecdotes. For example, a young man enters a pharmacy, stands in line, and when he comes to the counter and, pointing a finger at a pack of condoms, shyly says in a quiet voice: “Give me THIS, please.” The pharmacist loudly, to the whole pharmacy: “Young man, if you mean CONDOMS, then just say that you need CONDOMS. Mary Vanna, punch him a pack of CONDOMS. And you take your CONDOMS and do not fool me next time!”. The man looks at the queue and shouts loudly to it: “Comrades, have you heard everything? YES, I'M GOING TO FUCK!"

These were the simplest condoms, still without lubrication, but with a sperm collector at the end, for the same 2 kopecks. And they sometimes burst at the most inopportune moment. I remember ... Okay, I won't.

Well, what else to remember? During the period when puberty had already begun, but there were no sexual acts yet, some boys dragged condoms to school in order to defiantly, supposedly by chance, show that they had already become acquainted with the sacrament of sex.
Condoms were in great demand among tourists, geologists and fishermen - they kept cigarettes, matches, salt and sugar in them, because you can't imagine a more airtight container. And if you put a condom in a sock or shirt sleeve, you could carry water in it (about a liter and a half).
Condoms were sometimes used as balloons, but not because they cost less than real balloons, but for fun.
It was said that in Afghanistan, unlubricated condoms were put on the barrel of machine guns to prevent dirt and dust from getting inside.
And the fixing ring of a condom was ideally suited as a torn belt in cassette recorders.
About condoms thrown from the roof of houses under the feet of passers-by, with water collected in them, I probably won’t remember ....

When I myself reached the age of puberty and the girls who had reached their puberty began to reciprocate, I tried to drive my spermatozoa into such flesh-colored condoms with a sperm collector, with lubricant and in foil packaging, at a price of 10 kopecks. a piece. They still had the inscription "Checked by electronics", and Indian condoms were considered the coolest.
But, to be honest, more often we did without them - condoms were usually used for casual and one-time relationships. And you know, everything worked out: when I later walked past the orphanage, children who looked like me did not stretch their thin arms through the kindergarten bars and shout plaintively: “Dad, dad ...”, and somehow managed to avoid visits to the veterinary dispensary.