Comstock's War On Obscenity
<p>Sending rude mail was dealt a devastating blow on 3rd March, 1873, when the campaign against pornography, reproductive health, birth control, and abortion led by self-appointed ‘Special Agent’ of the US Postal Service Anthony Comstock went all the way to Washington.&nbsp;</p><br><p>After the ‘Comstock Act’ became law, books were banned, ‘obscene’ pamphlets were destroyed, and, in Comstock’s home state of Connecticut, birth control was banned - even within a marriage.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover what Comstock thought of the women he met at the White House; reveal his earliest crackdowns on licentiousness; and uncover George Bernard Shaw’s trolling of ‘Comstockery’ in the New York press…</p><br><p>#1800s #Politics #Publishing</p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><p>• ‘How an Anti-Obscenity Crusader Policed America's Mail for Decades’ (HISTORY, 2022): <a href="https://www.history.com/news/comstock-act-1873-obscenity-contraception-mail" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.history.com/news/comstock-act-1873-obscenity-contraception-mail</a></p><p>• ‘Anthony Comstock's "Chastity" Laws’ (PBS American Experience): <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-anthony-comstocks-chastity-laws/#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201860s%2C%20Comstock%20began%20supplying%20the,the%20contraceptive%20industry%20as%20one%20of%20his%20targets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-anthony-comstocks-chastity-laws/#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201860s%2C%20Comstock%20began%20supplying%20the,the%20contraceptive%20industry%20as%20one%20of%20his%20targets</a>.</p><p>• ‘The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age’ (National Archives, 2022): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9IS0S-B5HU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9IS0S-B5HU</a></p><br><p><strong>We'll be back on Monday - unless you join&nbsp;</strong>🌴<strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS</strong>🌴<strong>, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!</strong></p><p>Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT26X-0002yA-4y&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676645400%2F1pT26X-0002yA-4y%7Cin6m%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF94C5CC638CA58ABA0B2241F65509&o=%2Fphtp%3A%2Fats3.plCo%2FxecXQWW&s=hO0ZN-ZkkBb7FmFormHMD_DF2JQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://url6.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1pT26X-0002yA-4y&d=4%7Cmail%2F90%2F1676645400%2F1pT26X-0002yA-4y%7Cin6m%7C57e1b682%7C10917358%7C13772167%7C63EF94C5CC638CA58ABA0B2241F65509&o=%2Fphta%3A%2Fptsootr%2F.cmenerRetspctosro&s=PC6U0ffDsnrop48dkvk34gG7uZc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>.&nbsp;</strong>Thanks!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 202</em>3.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
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Show Notes
Sending rude mail was dealt a devastating blow on 3rd March, 1873, when the campaign against pornography, reproductive health, birth control, and abortion led by self-appointed ‘Special Agent’ of the US Postal Service Anthony Comstock went all the way to Washington.
After the ‘Comstock Act’ became law, books were banned, ‘obscene’ pamphlets were destroyed, and, in Comstock’s home state of Connecticut, birth control was banned - even within a marriage.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover what Comstock thought of the women he met at the White House; reveal his earliest crackdowns on licentiousness; and uncover George Bernard Shaw’s trolling of ‘Comstockery’ in the New York press…
#1800s #Politics #Publishing
Further Reading:
• ‘How an Anti-Obscenity Crusader Policed America's Mail for Decades’ (HISTORY, 2022): https://www.history.com/news/comstock-act-1873-obscenity-contraception-mail
• ‘Anthony Comstock's "Chastity" Laws’ (PBS American Experience): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-anthony-comstocks-chastity-laws/#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201860s%2C%20Comstock%20began%20supplying%20the,the%20contraceptive%20industry%20as%20one%20of%20his%20targets.
• ‘The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age’ (National Archives, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9IS0S-B5HU
We'll be back on Monday - unless you join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!
Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus bits, and support our independent podcast.
Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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