Anthony Comstock: Sex, Censorship, and the Power of Policing the Subjective

Sex 2.0: Episode #3 of 4. Today’s episode is part of our sex series 2.0 and  a continuation of one of our earliest episodes, Selling Sex: 19th Century New York City Prostitution and Brothels. In that episode, Sarah and Elizabeth discussed the vibrant sexual culture in New York City during the Gilded Age, roughly 1870 to 1890. Today Elizabeth and Ave are going to do a deep dive on the most famous antagonists of that sexual culture: anti-vice crusader, Anthony Comstock. A complete bibliography and transcript can be found at digpodcast.org. Some of they key texts for this episode include:

Amy Werbel, Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock (Columbia University Press, 2018).

David Pivar, Purity Crusade: Sexual Morality and Social Control, 1868-1900 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973).

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