Anthony Comstock

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Comstockery is the world's standing joke at the expense of the United States. Europe likes to hear of such things. It confirms the deep-seated conviction of the Old World that America is a provincial place, a second-rate country-town civilization after all.
—George Bernard Shaw
Anthony Comstock

Anthony Comstock is one of the reasons Americans are so squicky about abortion, birth control, pornography, and sexuality in general. While his title was United States Postal Inspector, Comstock bragged that he caused fifteen people to commit suicide and had arrested 4,000 people.[1] In addition to the arrests and suicides, Comstock is estimated to have destroyed 15 tons of books, 4 million pictures, and 142 tons of printing press plates. Pleasant chap.

Contents

[edit] The Comstock Act

The Comstock Act[2] was a law that made it illegal to send "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, i.e. pornography. However, the law also banned sending contraceptives and information about contraceptives, as well as educational information about abortion through the mail.[3] Thanks to these laws, during the first world war, American troops were sent abroad without condoms, resulting in a very high STD rate.[4] The law was popular, and state level laws were also enacted. New England was under draconian law for years, with birth control being completely illegal in Connecticut, and nearly illegal in Massachusetts; the other states were little better.[5]

[edit] The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

Their emblem: Book burning and imprisonment

Comstock founded this along with his supporters, the YMCA. Eventually disbanded in 1950, it was the opposite of the ACLU. They are most famous for their opposition to Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawerence, though they protested many other works, such as those of Oscar Wilde.

[edit] Influence in popular culture

  • The main enemy in the videogame Bioshock Infinite is called Zachary Hale Comstock in his honor.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

Abortion articles on RationalWiki
Abortion - Fetus/Fœtus - Gonzales v. Carhart - Nuremberg Files - Pro-life - Pro-choice - Essay:Rhetorical analysis of abortion essays - Roe v. Wade - Schlafly, breast cancer and abortion - The Silent Scream - Barnett Slepian - Essay:Where do you fall in the abortion debate?
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