Erik Loomis on Anthony Comstock at Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Sounds familiar:
Comstock pushed through Congress in 1874 the notorious Comstock Law, which made illegal sending “obscene, lewd, and lascivious” material through the U.S. mail. Examples of such material included information on birth control and biology textbooks that showed accurate representations of the human body. Comstock believed the birth control devices caused lust to rise in the human body and lewd behavior to follow.
In a previous post, I became reacquainted with my distaste for Augustine. His Greek-inspired notions of spirit/flesh dualism mixed with Christianity has been pernicious. The flesh is seen as an affliction to be subjugated. Fervent believers in that worldview like Comstock become ascendant from time to time and cause all kinds of misery. Comstock used to brag that he drove fifteen people to suicide through his efforts.
I’m glad I came of age in the late 80’s. There are too damn many killjoys now.
Too many holyerthanthouers around these days.
T: I know exactly what you mean. Once upon a time the poet Joyce Kilmer could say without criticism: “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.: Now Mitt Romney says that outside of Michigan none of them is “just the right size”.
Comstock believed the birth control devices caused lust to rise in the human body and lewd behavior to follow
Sounds like our history since the birth control pill was introduced. He was pretty much right.
I wonder what birth control devices were being mailed in 1870. You know, the US went from having a total fertility rate of 7 in 1800 to 3.5 in 1900 (it was 2.05 in 2000). How did they do that in an era without birth control?
Rubber condoms and diaphragms came out in the 1840s. And despite the attempts of the misogynist and sadist Constock, bith control devices and birth control texts were likely distributed.
The declining fertility rate in the seconds half of the 19th century is attributed to urbanizaltion, falling demand for farm labor, female education and entry of females into the workforce. The same factors that lower birth rates in developing countries.
I guess or species could return to Onanism, but of course that did not end well for Onan.
I know WHY fertility declined, I am interested in HOW it declined.
I don’t think that the answer is condoms and diaphragms. And I think the HOW is applicable to our situation today.
I think I just told you why and how it declined. They are interlinked. I cannot see how the “HOW” then can be very relevant to today, as the conditions then do not exist now. Maybe men and women bopped less. Or discovered alternative sexual methodoligies.
When women are engaged in work, becoming more educated, expanding their opportunities, they have fewer children. And in urban environments, the marginal cost of more kiddies far exceeds their marginal utility. The economic equation was reversed in a labor intensive agarian economy. More kids, more farm hands.
Hmm.. I onanize all the time and nothing happens. Seriously, this country needs to get a grip on it’s obsession with sex and as Nike says, just do it.
In a day when joblessness reigns and cancer still claims its victims… death and hunger stalk the world and debt is rising.. the only thing we can focus on is what two people (or in Onan’s case, one) do with their sex organs? GET A GRIP!!
hoosierone,,
Good post. I think you helped me come up with a solution to this slouch towards Sodom.
All sex stops and the neo-Puritans are happy. We then return to onanism and Pope Rick gets everyone a papal indulgence. Problem solved, with the death of only a few trillion tiny tadpoles.
Onan is kind of a funny story. He gets tagged with the sin of masturbation when, really, his sin was pulling out when having sex with his widowed sister-in-law instead of impregnating her.
Funny, I always thought he overturned the aspirin bottle. Guess that was the King James version.
Don, could be that he spilled he apirin bogle and broke the last defense Against chastity.
My colllege was run by heretics. we read the Revised Standard Edition.
Doug,
You are right, Onan was not rubbing one off, he pulled out and “spilled his seed on he ground.” Yaweh was one tough bronze-age deity.
I recall from a biblical literature class in college that the story of Onan was more about violating the Law in a patriachal tribe where patrilineage was Job One.
Carlito: I concur, but Doug is muttering something about establishing pre-approved/censored postings if we insist on keeping this up. (Anything lasting more than four hours see your lawyer).