Monday, August 3, 2009

ANTHONY COMSTOCK: America's most successful prig

Remember how quickly Congress reacted to the Janice Jackson "wardrobe malfunction?" Lawmakers bravely, and almost instantly, responded to "nipple gate." For instance, bills were quickly introduced in both houses of Congress increasing the fine for broadcast "indecency" tenfold from $27,500 to $275,000. 

We shouldn't be surprised by their efficiency. Politicians have long been hitching a ride on the nation's sexual hang-ups. In fact Congress began stamping out sex education and cutting off access to sexually related materials in the 1870’s. That is when they joined forces with Anthony Comstock, the nation's most notorious self-appointed public morals activist. 

Comstock was the founder of the highly influential New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. (Consider its similarity to the present-day Saudi Commission for the Protection of Virtue and Suppression of Vice.) Blocking access to birth control information was Comstock’s chief concern. He also wanted to stiffle information on abortion. And while he was at it, he also campaigned to stamp out “obscene” books, “dirty” pictures, birth control devices, and so forth.

Comstock and his acolytes kicked off their organized activities by conducting vigilante raids on retailers; confiscating and handing over to the police, “bad books” and “articles made of rubber for immoral purposes and used by both sexes.” Then, emboldened by the success of this campaign, Comstock and his society launched a national political campaign to criminalize sex education, sex toys, racy illustrations and “bad books.”

Their efforts were one hundred percent successful. In 1873 Congress passed, without debate, the Comstock inspired, "Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use." The Act defined sex education, particularly as it pertained to preventing conception, as obscene. Here is an excerpt from that statute: Whoever … shall sell, or lend, or give away, or in any manner exhibit … or shall otherwise publish … or shall have in his possession, any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, writing, advertisement, circular, print, picture, drawing or other representation, … or instrument … of an immoral nature, or any drug or medicine, or any article whatever, for the prevention of conception, or for causing unlawful abortion, or shall advertise the same for sale, … shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, he shall be imprisoned at hard labor in the penitentiary for not less than six months nor more than five years for each offense, or fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two thousand dollars, with costs of court. (That's not less than $2,200 and not more than $44,000 in today's dollars.)

This federal law also specified that it was a crime to send any "obscene" materials through the mail. That provision served to create an official government job for Comstock. He was appointed a special agent of the US Post Office with exclusive enforcement powers. He held this position, — in essence, America’s sexual morality czar — for the next 42 years. 

Comstock was empowered to prosecute anyone sending information about birth control, or committing any other "sexual offenses,” via the mail. But were many actually prosecuted? They sure were. Upon retirement Comstock boasted that he had victoriously brought charges against more than 3,600 defendants and destroyed 160 tons of "sexual materials." And that included information about birth control, since that was officially "obscene."     

A crusading Comstock even provoked at least one famous suicide. That's when feminist Ida Craddock killed herself rather than be imprisoned for sending sex education information by mail. Her suicide note reads, in part, “I am taking my life because a judge, at the instigation of Anthony Comstock, has declared me guilty of a crime I did not commit -- the circulation of obscene literature. Perhaps it may be that in my death, more than in my life, the American people may be shocked into investigating the dreadful state of affairs which permits that unctuous sexual hypocrite Anthony Comstock to wax fat and arrogant and to trample upon the liberties of the people, invading, in my own case, both my right to freedom of religion and to freedom of the press." 

Thus ended the life of a feminist sex education pioneer. Hundreds of others ended up in federal prison. How far have we come since then? Is the current torrent of anti-abortion legislation a piece of the same puritanical pie? You decide. 

 To further examine these and similar issues, see dozens of articles at www.newfoundations.com

No comments: