Never has human ingenuity been so much in evidence as in finding ways to counter conception. This is an intriguing history of the condom and an unusual unravelling of the politics and culture that surround this most practical item. This Trigger Issue takes in the early history of contraception – think crocodile dung and sea sponges; the rubber revolution of the early 1900s and female liberation through birth control; the role of the condom in the frontline against HIV/Aids; Bush's 'war on the condom'. It looks ahead to a high tech future of spray-on and liquid condoms.