Riding when contraception was hard to come by in Ireland.

Sunny Disposition

Its only around 1990 or so that restrictions on contraceptives were dropped, especially for unmarried people. What did people do in the 80s?

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058245463/riding-when-contraception-was-hard-to-come-by-in-ireland

had lots of children

Pa ElGrande

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058245463/riding-when-contraception-was-hard-to-come-by-in-ireland

Depended on the part of the country you lived.

Up the bum no harm done?

Deja Boo

...had morals?

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058245463/riding-when-contraception-was-hard-to-come-by-in-ireland

They went to Virgin megastore

RTÉ Archives | Society | Illegal Sale Of Condoms (rte.ie)

They went to Belfast

RTÉ Archives | Society | Contraceptive Train (rte.ie)

Longford Leader

I was a kid back then......so all I got to ride was my bike!!

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048141#Comment_119048141

"We had a quiet wedding - her father had a silencer on the shotgun. "

Snickers Man

Well if you were a student there was always the German option.

In the 80s Germany was a thriving economy with a massive labour shortage and this was in the days before every assembly line was automated with computers and robots. So loads of summer work available.

Also, the Germans were very into sales automation even back then so there were loads of vending machines selling chocolate, coffee, peanuts.....and johnnies.

Also, for the younger generation, this was long before the euro so we used Irish punts and the Germans used DeutscheMarks. Amazingly, if very stupidly, the 1DM coin was exactly the same size and weight of the old Irish 5p piece. But the DM was worth between 30 and 34p depending on market fluctuations at the time. So every June, Irish banks had to be sure to stock up on a few gazillion 5ps as they just knew grubby students would be coming in to get a fiver or tenners worth of such coins in advance of heading off to Germany for the summer. So they could phone home to their mammies, like. (Pre mobile phone days)

Worked a treat. A year's supply of Johnnies (about a packet in my case) for a few p. Just had to make sure you used them by the sell-by date.

EE we had it tough when I were a lad!!

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048165#Comment_119048165

Aka a weekend to England.

goldenmick

Sure the women always had an answer. There were even books about it.

screamer

In days of old, when men were bold…..

something something socks.

but in reality it was either a baby factory or move out into seperate bedrooms.

toyotatommy

Coitus interruptus

sam t smith

An empty Tayto Salt and Vinegar crisp bag as prophylactic?

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048165#Comment_119048165

Throwing them into slavery?

SuperBowserWorld

RTE2 played Madonna's Papa Don't Preach and Like A Virgin to warn the young people of Ireland.

cj maxx

Living on the border it was never an issue. Just pop into the local northern pharmacy and ride like hell.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048165#Comment_119048165

Morality is overrated.

toyotatommy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048484#Comment_119048484

Had the pharmacists brothels?

cj maxx

No, but they did sell. Condoms All the local dairy farmers got them for the cows teet if one was infected. Or so they said 🤔

Still stihl waters 3

Finish on the bewbs

Ubbquittious

It is possible to to make johnnies out of sheeps intestines. I am not sure how hard it is & does not protect against STD's

Was there any clandestine manufacturing of those? would have been a nice little side hustle for some butcher

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048562#Comment_119048562

How romantic

goldenmick

@Ubbquittious - It is possible to to make johnnies out of sheeps intestines.

Then you'd have to buy a shoehorn as well.

At least some of us would.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048592#Comment_119048592

I don't know if they're romantic. See for yourself - https://www.condomjungle.com/naturalamb/ - bit pricy though

looksee

Vatican roulette.

Grandeeod

Morals did exist back then and had nothing to do with religion. Fair do's to those that followed them. Usually single and aware. This is a topic I can completely relate to as I became sexually active in 1987 and used a condom from a friends parents bedroom drawer. Most likely those condoms were got on prescription as they were married. If we fast forward into the early 90s, lots of girls as in teenagers had access to the pill once their parents consented to it. The pill was widely accessible back then. Of course lots of girls were tricked into the act by lads that didn't give a fook with BS like, "I'll pull out". Yeah right. Most likely a case of no communication from parents that had experienced religious oppression and were comfortable ignoring the reality. Quite simply they weren't told anything about the options that local doctors would happily prescribe. Even the morning after pill was available in Well Women Centres.

I came of age during a time where the availability of contraception crossed over from prescription to condom machines in pub toilets. Now we can buy them in our local petrol station and rightly so. However from my perspective the late 80s to the early 90s, was no excuse either if parental guidance/support was offered. These days couples still have unplanned pregnacies despite the widespread contraceptive options. I guess it may be down to a still existent situation of absolute carelessness and ignorance. No excuse these days but hey it still happens.

maestroamado

It all changed in "summer of 69" ...

fryup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048920#Comment_119048920

Billy describes it best....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yr4CBkeZws&t=1m42s

tabby aspreme

I thought sheep intestines were used for sausage casings, ...oh wait

Mena Mitty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048465#Comment_119048465

......if you couldn't get your hands on Cling film in an emergency :-)

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119049198#Comment_119049198

No emergency required! Mid-80's Cork, cling-film was a perfectly normal prophylactic, widely used. Funny to think about it now but never heard of it failing.

Ray Palmer

when I was in college my girlfriend at the time went to get the pill. The nurse in the college told her "you know he doesn't love you" and tried to talk her out of getting the pill and to save her virginity that was 1993. Nurse should have been fired, can you imagine what she would have said to a pregnant student?

JupiterKid

IIRC from reading issues of the Phoenix magazine that my aul fella subscribed to back in the late 1980s there was a mail order johnnie service that you could use.

By the time I became sexually active in my first year of college in 1993/94 (with girls before I found my true calling) the condom vending machines were all over the place in Dublin pub jacks by then.

Teenage pregnancy rates were through the roof in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks largely to ignorance, lack of sex education and no access to contraception. Funny how these rates have collapsed since the late 1990s with proper sex education and universal availability of contraception.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119051255#Comment_119051255

I worked in student bar in Dublin in 1993 and we gave out free condoms. It was so weird to go from it been hard to get them to giving them away for free. My Mam freaked out when she found johnny wrappers in my pockets from work. People used to blow the up like balloons at the time so general bar rubbish was condom wrappers. She gave a big lecture about sex before marriage to her 19 year old son who who lost his virginity at 15. A family friend was one of the people who sold condoms in Virgin and she hooked me up. If I had no condoms I would have gotten somebody pregnant. Having condoms was quite helpful when nobody else had them

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119048131#Comment_119048131

Conor Cruise O'Brien told a story about when the 1970s FG/Lab government made its, ahem, abortive attempt to legalise contraception. After the bill was introduced in the Dail, it broke up for the summer or whatever, and the TDs went off to consult with their constituents on the issue. An elderly aunt of Peter Barry asked him "What's all this about contraceptives Peter? Didn't we all come into the world without them things?"

You can't really fault her logic...

Larbre34

Likewise I *came* of age in the early 90s when sanity was beginning to prevail.

I heard that in the 80s, if you wanted the ride without a free trip to Holles Street, if just after you had blown your batter into her, you whispered 'just kidding' in her ear, it was foolproof.

looksee

And of course it was impossible to get pregnant the first time, so...

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119054135#Comment_119054135

I remember the sex talks from peers in school and it was shocking how ignorant some were. Luckily most of the truly ignorant had no chance of getting near a girl at that age. Teenage boys can be particularly gross when playing up for others. Some of the "stories" from guys were funny and physically impossible. There was some sex education in school but my parents had gone through it all. I remember when the religion teacher brought in books aimed at teens about sex education. He left them on the table and then walked out of the room. He was not allowed teach it apparently so this was his work around.

Riddle101

Perhaps Irish people really should have just converted to Protestantism in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBjsFAyiwA

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119053789#Comment_119053789

its a batter consistency youd want to see a doctor