Coitus Interruptus in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Most demographers give scant attention to coitus interruptus as a viable method of contraception. This likely results from a combination of factors. Most demographers live in countries where withdrawal is not widely practiced. A wide variety of more efficient and more easily employed methods now exists with modern methods tending to be female-initiated. Withdrawal is also neither unintrusive easy to use nor coitus-independent. Withdrawal however played a major role in bringing about the historical declines of fertility in the West. The author therefore reviews the course of coitus interruptus throughout the 20th century in Europe North America and Australia where marital fertility declines were initiated devoid of contraceptive-related technological innovation. The methods gradual decline during the latter half of the century is charted with intercountry differences highlighted. The method has tended to persist in southern Europe. This would suggest that the nontechnologically-dependent method is practiced due to individual preference for the method and not because of a lack of alternative methods. The availability of alternatives is both a technical and cultural condition. The author finally reaches some conclusions about the nature of withdrawal predicts its future course and makes broader inferences about the nature of contraceptive acceptability.