Lust, lewdness and Capitalism

Anthony Comstock served in the infantry during the Civil War, then moved to New York City and found work as a salesman. A devout Christian, he was appalled by what he saw in the city's streets. It seemed to him that the town was teeming with prostitutes and pornography. In the late 1860s, Comstock began supplying the police with information for raids on sex trade merchants and came to prominence with his anti-obscenity crusade. Also offended by explicit advertisements for birth control devices, he soon identified the contraceptive industry as one of his targets. Comstock was certain that the availability of contraceptives alone promoted lust and lewdness. In 1872 Comstock set off for Washington with an anti-obscenity bill, including a ban on contraceptives, that he had drafted himself. On March 3, 1873, Congress passed the new law, later known as the Comstock Act. The statute defined contraceptives as obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines. Married couples could be arrested for using birth control in the privacy of their own bedrooms, and subjected to a one-year prison sentence. The Comstock laws remained on the books until challenged by a Pharmacutical company (Searle) that wanted to test and market "the pill" in the late 1950's. So we have nearly 100 years of controlled "lust and lewdness" and overt illegality with criminal penalties finally reversed by the "profit motive" of a drug company. Progess moves in mysterious ways.