The Comstock Act of 1872

This is a satirical comic from the magazine _Life_ from 1888. In it, the moral crusader Anthony Comstock is shown accosting an artist painting a woman bathing. “Don’t you suppose I can imagine what is under the water?”, proclaims Comstock.

It is a fitting caption for the man who gave his name to the indecency law the “Comstock Act” of 1872. It not only banned pornography, but also birth control, from being sent through the mail or across state lines. It was challenged successfully first by Margaret Sanger in 1918, but it took decades after for birth control to be legalized across America.

Comstock was impacted by war (he fought in the Civil War), and religion (he was a very devout Christian Congregationalist). However, it is possible that his abhorance to pornography (“like a cancer it fastened itself upon the imagination . . . Defining the mind, corrupting the thoughts, leading to secret practices and revolting character,” he wrote) was compounded by a masturbation habit that he felt guilty about. In his teens, says author Guy Talese, he “masturbated so excessively . . . . That he felt it might drive him to suicide”.

Well, that’s where one guy’s hangups really had an influence. Some men’s imaginations have had an enormous impact on women’s bodies in history, and Comstock is a case example.