RELIGION & SEXUALITY MIDTERM

Christian Science

-(F-CLP) -1875: Mary Eddy Baker started it -clean living, faith, & prayer would serve health better than modern medicine (F-CLP) -Said not to go to doctors. Today, this is controversial because children die from preventable diseases because they are not taken to the doctor. -People who did go to the doctor had worse rates of illness. -BUT this is because the health care at the time was not advanced.

Seventh Day Adventists

-(MAC) -1863: Ellen White started it -clean living: members were prohibited from consuming meat, alcohol, caffeine (MAC) -or any food they believed had an ill effect on the body -Thought bland vegetarian foods would help men control their sexual passions and stifle their desire to masturbate & keep them healthier. -People COULD go to doctors.

Theosophical Society

-(MOP) -1875: founded for the purpose of studying mysticism, the occult, & philosophy (MOP) -It was more open to new & challenging ideas than universities were at the time. -This attracted Ida Craddock -People could openly discuss the connection between religion & sexuality. -Liked to explore the religions & mysticisms of "the East," including Asia. -This is where people were 1st exposed to the ideas of Hinduism & Buddhism. -Cultural Fairs: popular in the 19th century: people came & shared their culture

Catholic v. Puritan Perspectives on Sexuality

-*Puritans said* that CATHOLICS thought sexuality was sinful (Catholics might not have agreed): this is why they demanded celibacy out of priests & nuns: they thought being sexual was incompatible with being truly godly & that marriage was a lesser spiritual state that could only be justified as a way to channel lust & create children -PURITANS said marriage was the *ideal* spiritual state & the only option. Sexuality was part of this ideal, as long as it was within marriage for reproduction purposes.

Brigham Young

-1 of Smith's earlier followers. The majority of Mormons followed him when Smith died. -1847: He took 70,000 followers further west, to the Utah territory (wasn't a state yet).

Revelation of Celestial Marriage

-1843 (1 year before his death): Joseph Smith told his closest followers that he received a revelation on celestial marriage: said it was permissible for a man to be married to more than 1 woman at a time; he secretly took on another wife. -This revelation remained secret while he was alive & even a few years after his death.

Ida Craddock

-1857: born in a Quaker family, but left the Quakers by her 20s -She wanted to be the 1st female graduate student at UPenn. Denied because she's female. Wanting to share her knowledge with others in a new way, she studied mysticism & the occult in the Theosophical Society -Was not an expert on eastern religion but used it gain legitimacy & an audience. She became prominent because women were not supposed to talk about this & were supposed to be in the private sphere. -Called herself a priestess in the "Church of Yoga," offering instruction for heterosexual couples who wanted to experience a mystical relationship in person or in pamphlets. -She spent 3 months in jail for mailing pamphlets. The judge wouldn't even let the jury read it. After being released, she was soon sentenced to another 5 years. She committed suicide before being jailed. -Was NOT a typical Victorian woman because (1) she openly discussed sexuality (2) she had an unconventional marriage to an angel named Silf -keep in mind that the idea of spiritism (living people could communicate with the dead & angels) was very popular in the 19th century in organizations such as the Theosophical Society; not seen as delusional at the time -The connections she made between health, sexuality, & spirituality was NOT unusual BUT the way she PRESENTED these ideas was

Suffrage

-1870: women got the right to vote; earlier than any other state or territory in the U.S. -1877: Right was taken away by the government as a punishment for mormons degrading women (ironic because they took away female suffrage) -1895: Utah took a state: mormons were no longer polygamists: women suffrage was restored

The "Enlightenment"

-18th century: gained traction -claimed that there were 2 separate & oppositional realms -Religion: ideas based on a supernatural or metaphysical authority -Secular: ideas based on reason & scientific authority -This idea was a response to centuries of wars between European Protestants & Catholics. Enlightenment thinkers were trying to think a way OUT of this instability. -Thinkers believed that instead of being based on religious beliefs (private), citizenship should be based on something universal: reason. -Late 18th century: Countries had revolutions based on Enlightenment principles -ex) U.S., France, Haiti -19th century: these ideals went beyond politics & permeated the social life of European middle classes, creating the ideology of separate spheres

Stirpiculture

-A Eugenic Breeding Program -Mutual Criticism Sessions: communities tried to break up couples who were too exclusive & had "special love". They pressured women to accept certain partners & encouraged men to request sex with certain women. (the community could influence who they thought should have sex with who) They picked people they thought would have the most healthy offspring: encouraged them to have a child. -All child rearing was communal. -Young men who didn't know how to not ejaculate were encouraged to have sex with post menopausal women while they learned how to be "continent": they did NOT want unplanned pregnancies. -Discouraged special love between couples. ---Discouraged special love between biological parents & children. The whole community should be equally engaged in loving & caring for these children -Entirely dismantled the nuclear family in terms of childrearing, sexuality, and finances

Ursuline Convent Riot (1834)

-A mob surrounded an ursuline convent outside of Boston & burned it down. -The convent was under suspicioun because the nuns there ran a school & their students were not only Catholic students (many Protestant Unitarian church - a progressive church) and a lot of the unitarians at the time didn't like the strict Puritan Education being taught and so they liked the catholic education because they felt it was more progressive than the public schools -Since a convent is mainly girls, and there were a lot of protestant students, nativists were convinced that the nuns and girls in this school were being sexually victimized by priests -The rioters believed they were rescuing and saving the nuns & girls from sexual slavery instead of what they actually did: burned down their home/school/terrorizing them -In the end: no one was hurt - nuns & students escaped to safety in time Some rioters accompanied the nuns & students as they escaped to Boston -They wouldn't have had to flee if they didn't burn down the convent to start with -The rioters were put on trial after the incident. Highly publicized. -Many false memoirs were published featuring young girls escaping convents

Equality Between the Sexes

-After Ann Lee died, Joseph Michum (held authority over men) & Lucy Right (held authority over women). = # of male/female leaders with = spiritual authority in every realm of the community Celibacy played a large part in these women being allowed to have authority. -Women did not have children. Community often adopted & raised orphans, raising them COMMUNALLY. They were not attached to 1 certain individual. -Because of this, women were not responsible for raising children alone. They could devote time to spiritual leadership & the well being of the entire community

Bundling

-Because men had to travel long distances to court young women, it wasn't practical to go home. The unmarried courting couple (dating for the purpose of marriage) slept in bed together. This was acceptable as long as they were clothed or had a bundling board: a board that divided the bed into 2 sections to prevent sexual intercourse. -This was common in Puritan New England small homes did not have guestrooms.

Joseph Smith

-Born in 1805 into a family of farmers from New England & were Congregationalist (directly descended from the Puritans). Like many agricultural families, they were having trouble making a living in New England as farmers. 1817: moved to western NY (a place of intense religious feeling at the time). Here, he claimed to have had a series of visitations by angels who gave him the Book of Mormon: a new revelation on par with the Bible. -1830: he published the Book of Mormon & started the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He founded the Mormon Church. -Charismatic; gained many followers. -1831: moved with his followers out west to leave the populated east coast & to build a utopian community based on their ideals. -1844: mob attacked the community, killed Smith

Margaret Sanger

-Born in 1879 in western New York. Her parents were Irish Catholics but became freethinkers & atheists before she was born & strongly believed in female education & rights. Even though they were poor, they pooled their resources to get Sanger an education. -1902: She became a nurse. 1911: Her & other radical nurses moved to the lower east side of NY that was filled with poor immigrant Jews. Here, she became a radical activist. She saw women terrified to have kids because they couldn't afford it & the family would starve. -Angry that she was risking her career if she spread information about contraception. -1914: She had enough & knew the law was wrong. She published The Woman Rebel: told the public about birth control methods. -She was convicted of obscenity. Rather than face trial, she fled to England to advocate birth control rights there; was something of a celebrity in the U.S. -1915: After public outcry, the gov dropped charges against her. She moved back to the U.S. -Sanger died in 1966; she was able to see major changes

Criticisms of Polygamy

-By standards of the 19th century, Mormons in the Utah territory didn't have it so bad (compared to other areas) BUT they certainly were not egalitarian. -U.S. Non-Mormons were extremely scandalized by Mormon polygamy Mormons were the biggest threat: they had the biggest following & had LEGAL control. -Polygamy was a major political issue! Congress often discussed it. Do we leave it alone on the grounds of religious freedom? Yes? No? -The status of Utah hinged on the practice of polygamy -People wrote novels about the horror of polygamy. Said it degraded women. (ironic because they did not let women vote or attain higher education) -Racist & Colonialist Assumptions: White Europeans justified slavery & colonialism by saying they were more civilized & moral than non-Europeans. They thought their sexual practices were superior & more moral. Sexuality was a major justification for Europeans asserting their superiority. Morman polygamy was confusing because it was being practiced by descendants of Puritans/white European men. This undermined the notion that Americans of European descent (Christian) were more moralized than other religions & races. This threatened American leaders. Colonialists in the West made a big deal out of exposing the horrors of the harem system in the Middle East (many who never even saw a harem, and didn't know it was not widespread in the Middle East and was only practiced by a few small elite) but they used it to justify colonialism. -Thought the sexual practices of the people had an affect on politics - caused people to become weak & complacent & at the mercy of stronger nations and stronger powers. Feared that if they allowed polygamy, the country would lose power & status -1854: Congress tried to stop Mormon polygamy Didn't allow Utah to have land grands like citizens in other territories -1870s: congress went beyond denying privileges to people in Utah and started passing laws that would directly punish the Mormons living in Utah; said polygamists would be subject to a $500 fine, couldn't be on jury, vote, or hold public office, would go to jail

Status of 19th Century American Nuns

-Challenged the idea of separate spheres. -Many had more freedom & autonomy than most married women in the U.S. -Many had long term careers as teachers & principals of parochial schools. -Nurses, hospital workers, ran homes for orphanages, some worked farms, some had factories -Some Protestant women converted to Catholicism because they saw there were more opportunities for a rewarding career.

Mother Ann Lee

-Charismatic founder of the Shakers. -Quaker born in England. -Young married woman. Gave birth to 4 children who all died in infancy. After, she had a fear of sex. She had religious visions telling her that lust was the root of sin & that spiritually perfect people did NOT have sex. She began to preach these ideas & gained followers. -1774: she & her followers moved to the American colonies to escape harassment -1790s: had enough followers to build small communal villages -She died before the heyday of her movement. 19th century: these communities began to prosper & expand

University of Deseret (established 1850)

-Coeducational from the start: both men & women could be students here. -This was HUGE, most universities were much later to allow women.

Secular

-Concept from the "Enlightenment." -Secular: ideas based on reason & scientific authority -Believed all MEN had a capacity for reason -Women: too emotional, delicate: no capacity to reason -Couldn't be full citizens, couldn't vote -Non-Europeans: not civilized enough: no capacity to reason -This allowed Europeans to justify brutal colonial practices -Jews: didn't believe in the divinity of Christ, capacity for reason was uncertain -By 19th century, most European countries allowed Jew citizenship

Social Aspects

-DOMESTIC: It was easier to have more than 1 woman in charge of housework. -ex) 1 woman does the laundry, 1 woman cooks -Men were often asked to travel for missionary practices (sometimes for months), so wives had companionship of each other when the man left. Many formed close relationships with each other ( 31% of polygamist marriages in Utah were men who married sisters). -While critics accused Mormons of degrading women in polygamy, women had more rights than in any other U.S. state.

Edmunds-Tucker Act (1887)

-Dissolved the mormon church as a legal corporation. They said they would have to dissolve all assets to the federal government unless they gave up polygamy. AND women could NOT vote. -Mormons brought this to the Supreme Court: said it violated free exercise of religion. -Supreme Court declared it constitutional. -To maintain status, the mormon Church gave up polygamy. (still has to this day) -Polygamy only existed for around 35 years. It's a very small section of Mormon history.

Industrialization

-Economic production took place on factories more than farms. -Extra children were now an economic drain instead of an economic asset. -Couples looked to celibacy & contraception to stop having kids. -Couples justified sex in new ways: fostered physical & spiritual health and intimacy

Johnson-Reed Act of 1924

-Ended the century of Immigration. -Congress had been restricting immigrants who did not come from Europe. Now, Congress said they felt uncomfortable letting "anyone" from Europe come. They weren't sure if all the new European immigrants were "truly" white, such as the Italian & Jewish immigrants. -This act limited migration to the U.S. and instituted quotas from various countries so that they could only send a certain amount of people into the U.S. -Northern & Western European States: had very high quotas -Southern & Eastern European States: had very low quotas -ex) Italy, Poland

PURITANS

-Group of Protestant Christians who originated in 16th/17th Century England -did not want to live under the authority of the Catholic Pope. -They felt that the Anglican Church (official church of England at the time) was too influenced by Catholic ritual. They wanted to "purify" the church of its Catholic elements. -The English monarchy/leadership was invested in the Catholic church & so they criminalized Puritan ideas & practices. -Puritans moved to American colonies (not the U.S. yet), primarily in the New England area, so that they could live a purified Puritan life free of Catholic influence. -There were also other religious dissonant groups who fled, including Catholics who went to the Chesapeake Bay area. -Their ideas still have resonance in today's societies

Abortion in the 19th Century

-Industrialization meant more kids were an economic drain, not help. This caused increased demand for birth control. -Until 1850, abortion was legal in all 50 states. Abortion procedures started being deemed uncertain. -Unsafe; no antibiotics; not advanced health care; women often died -1850-1880: states started criminalizing the abortion procedure. -Not because of moral objection, but in the hopes of saving women's lives. -Criminalized because UNSAFE, NOT morals. -It was safer for women to have the baby than to try to terminate the baby. -Making abortion illegal didn't work - women still tried to terminate pregnancies that they didn't want or couldn't afford -This made it MORE dangerous as it was done secretly. MORE women died.

Oneida Community

-John Humphrey Noyes: began this community He wanted to achieve spiritual perfectionism to hasten the 2nd coming. -20s: began to attract followers -1837: a devoted follower left his community & married another man -Noyes was devastated because he loved her. -After, he wrote the Battle Axe letter. This claimed that in a truly holy community, there should be no reason why sexual intercourse is only limited to married couples. Everyone should be equally devoted to one another. -Without his knowledge, this letter was published in a newspaper by atheists who believed in "free love" (there should be NO rules/boundaries on who should have sex with who). Noyes was NOT happy to be associated with these free love advocates bc: -He was NOT an atheist He did not believe in "free" love with no rules or boundaries. He believed in COMMUNAL love. -He lost his reputation & his few followers. -Next decade, he married Harriet, who had 4 stillbirths. Traumatic. After this, he felt that people should be able to have sex without the risk of getting pregnant. -He believed that pregnancy should ONLY happen under controlled conditions that would be most likely to produce healthy offspring. -He slowly began to gain followers again based on his ideas of: (1) Communal Sexuality (2) Controlled Scientific Pregnancy -He tried to make a utopian society in Vermont. -Kicked out bc he was too controversial. -1848: rebuilt his community in Oneida, NY; became somewhat successful ORGASMS -Men: should not ejaculate during sex: agreed with the 19th century assumption that this diminished health & power from men -Women: should have as many orgasms as possible -Even though this was a small group, his ideas were influential. -1870s: peak; over 300 members. Existed for 31 years.

Comstock Law (1873)

-Made it illegal to "trade in and circulate obscene literature & articles of immoral use, particularly through the U.S. mail". -Even though it became illegal to spread knowledge about contraception, people STILL did it, privately. -ex) doctors would privately tell their patients about contraceptive methods -This created a class issue, because usually the wealthier people had access to better healthcare, such as doctors -Stores secretly sold contraceptive devices under the table. -People shared knowledge through word of mouth. -There was a risk involved in spreading this knowledge. -1972: these laws were repealed

New Religious Communities/19th Century

-Many new churches & religious utopian communities challenged the notion that the most spiritually sexual acts had to happen in the private sphere of the nuclear family. -They had unprecedented success in the U.S. & England. -ex) 7th Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Shakers, Oneidas -What was going on in the 19th century that made people interested in alternate religious utopian communities? SPIM! -Spiritual Perfectionism, Industrialization, Millenarianism

Witchcraft Trials

-Massachusetts Feb 1692-May 1693: colonial courts accused over 100 people (mostly women) of making a pact with the devil & practicing witchcraft. -20 were executed. 14 of which were women. -Women were seen as morally & physically weaker than men -Why were women considered more likely to commit this type of crime? Some possible explanations include: (1) Puritan Theology (the feminine soul) (2) Puritan Social Organization (the nuclear family)

Women & Sexual Transgression

-Men & women were prosecuted differently. -Men ONLY: sodomy, bestiality, rape -Men AND Women: adultery, fornication (but women were more likely to be convicted because they were seen as morally weaker & less able to control their sexual desires)

Complex Marriage

-Most controversial ideal. Said that love exists between EVERY man & EVERY woman of the community, not ONLY between couples. He said that all men & women in the community were married to each other. (Only heterosexuality though.) -Alternative to the Nuclear Family: believed that men & women were responsible for one another emotionally, sexually, & financially (they all shared their assets) -Any man could ask to have sex with any women. Women could refuse requests. BUT women could not make their own requests.

Elimination of Private Property

-No private property. They all shared their resources. -This challenged the nuclear family. The nuclear family is not just a familial unit, it is an economic unit. -Typical 19th Century: Nuclear families shared economic units with each other. BUT with the Shakers, the whole COMMUNITY shared its resources. -Atheist Marxists were interested in these communities because they had successful economic communities without private property. Socialists were interested. -Felt that scripture wasn't sufficient, went beyond scriptures

Century of Immigration (1820-1924)

-Over 30 million new Americans (mainly from Europe, some from Mexico & Middle East). Largest # of immigrants the U.S. had ever received. -Why did so many Europeans want to make this difficult journey? ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY! - 19th century Europe: Crops that originated in America were being exported & cultivated in Europe. This caused huge population growth because you could cheaply feed a lot of people. The economy couldn't support all these new people. Result: a LOT of desperately poor people. HOWEVER, the U.S. was undergoing industrialization so there was a huge demand for labor.

Changes Over Time

-Past: until 19th century: marital rape was legal on the grounds that the husband had a legal right to the woman's body -1993: rape within marriage was deemed illegal in all 50 states -Today: marital rape & any sex without consent is illegal

Spiritual Perfectionism

-People wanted to live in communities that would allow them to achieve this spiritually perfect state of life free from sin that would quicken the 2nd coming of Christ. -Unconventional sexual & economic practices were all an attempt to create a perfect spiritual state for all the members of the communities.

Anti-Catholic Nativism

-People were anti-immigration & specifically anti-Catholic. They were afraid of losing their dominance & power. -Many believed that since Catholicism had a religious hierarchy, they would blindly follow their priests, bishops, & the pope instead of following their own conscience when they voted. They felt that since the pope didn't live in the U.S. & wasn't a U.S. citizen, Catholics would be serving a foreign power & subverting the U.S. by listening to the pope instead of listening to what was best for the country. -HOWEVER: most weren't really concerned with what the religious hierarchy told them to vote for. Instead, they voted for people who'd help their economic plight the most. -One strand of anti-Catholic nativism was mad that Catholics posed an alternative to the nuclear family & ideology of separate spheres (what many middle class people strongly believed in). Catholic priests & nuns didn't live in nuclear families, they lived in communities of spiritual celibacy. They were skeptical of Catholic claims that celibate nuns & priests were on a higher spiritual realm or that they were even celibate at all -Anti-Catholics published books, journals, & sermons that accused "celibate" priests & nuns of privately engaging in immoral sexual activity, said they were hypocrites. -They portrayed nuns as sexual victims. They were naive creatures who had good intentions but were forced by priests to be sexual slaves once they entered convents. -Often portrayed nuns as Protestant nuns who converted to Catholicism - makes the story even more tragic because if they didn't convert, nothing bad would have happened.

Prenuptial Pregnancy

-Pregnancy with an engaged couple before they got married. -The law actively encouraged these couples simply to get married. This shows that Puritans were not anti-sex, but wanted people to channel their sexual energy in sexually legitimate ways. -The monetary penalty for fornication was reduced if the couple got engaged or married, depending on if they were engaged or not to begin.

Were the Puritans "Puritanical?"

-Puritanical: someone with very strict, religious, prude behavior -Today, many Americans think Puritans were against sexuality. -Puritans were NOT anti-sex. They just wanted it practiced in a proper manner.

Catholic Immigration

-Religious beliefs were the main difference between native white americans (Protestants) and the new immigrants of the immigration period (overwhelmingly Catholic from Ireland, Italy, eastern Europe with a lot of Jews too) -This really changed the religious composition of the U.S. -Some protestants began to organize against immigrants of all kind, but especially against Catholics.

World Parliament of Religions, 1893

-Religious leaders from around the world came to Chicago to explain their religious beliefs to a fascinated American public. -Self described "open minded" observers started to argue that these Eastern religions & ancient wisdom (especially sexual wisdom) had been lost in American religions (bc they had typically been more repressive) -The Theosophical Society & similar organizations didn't actually know a lot about Eastern religion BUT being exposed to new religious vocab let people talk about possible connections to religion & sexuality that weren't available to them before. -People tried to gain legitimacy on topics that Americans considered scandalous. They said "of course this is true & real! If the wise people of the East know it, why don't we?" ex) Ida Craddock

Shakers

-Rooted in the 1780s. They didn't reach any kind of success until the mid 19th century. -The peak of their success was the 1860s. 6,000 members in 18 villages. -Official Name: "The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming" -Became known as Shakers because they engaged in trembling & shaking. They thought this meant sin was leaving their bodies & they were becoming more spiritually perfect. -People called them Shakers as a slur. They eventually adopted the name proudly.

Changes by Place/Region

-Same sex sex is illegal/illegitimate in some places & legal/legitimate in others -Same sex sex (2003: Supreme Court invalidated same sex sodomy laws!) -Marital rape -Age of consent varies around the world -2012: PA 18 year old w 13 year old = statutory rape; illegitimate & illegal -2012: Spain 13 year old was considered capable of sexual consent this didn't change until 2013

Both the Christian Scientists & Seventh Day Adventists

-Saw a connection between religion, physical health, & sexuality -Had female leaders. Makes sense since the private sphere was tied to women & religion.

Ideology of Separate Spheres (in Victorian America)

-Sexuality was seen in the private sphere & intertwined with all other ideas of the private sphere not seen before the 19th century. -Late 19th century Victorian ideal sex life: sex = religion + love IF heterosexual genital sex within marriage; not often; no masturbation (esp. men because ejaculating would deplete their power) -this controlled sex life of men that conserved their sexual passions was supposed to make them more powerful in all aspects of life (ex: business, job) & would increase the health of both men & women and bring them closer to the divine

Spiritual Celibacy

-Shakers had to be celibate to rid themselves of sin & achieve spiritual perfection. -Strict Community Surveillance: did not allow women & men to walk together, touch each other, or pass each other on the stairs (assumed people wanted heterosexual intercourse) -Rules against same sex intimacy & masturbation. MOST rules about heterosexuality. -Did not allow pets in case people saw animals mating & it ignited their sexual desires.

Immigrant Jews & Birth Control

-Supported it because they were poor & could not afford large families. -Immigrant Catholics were also in the same position, so why did Sanger find so much support specifically with the Jewish population? -Immigrant rabbis were supportive! This caused nearly universal support by the Jewish population for birth control & Sanger. -Other immigrant groups had mixed responses and didn't have clergy that specifically advocated for birth control.

19th Century Changing Attitudes Toward Sexuality

-The American Revolution has passed, the territory is now the United States. Attitudes towards sexuality are rapidly changing. -Late 19th century survey: a physician surveyed her white, middle class, married clients -Older Women: reproduction was the most important part of sexual intercourse (similar to the Puritans) -Younger Women: more likely to have sex for reasons other than procreation (expression of love, physical well being, to get closer to God) & more likely to use contraception to prevent pregnancy -Popular attitudes about sex were changing. reproduction —> action of love

Nuclear Family

-The Catholics did not value the nuclear family as much as Puritans because Catholics could live a life of spiritual celibacy while having community from other monks & nuns. -The nuclear family was the basis of Puritan social life & sexual legitimacy. -You COULD be a respected Catholic without being a part of a nuclear family. -You could NOT be a respected Puritan without being a part of a nuclear family. -Puritans emphasized heterosexual marriage & condemned sex out of wedlock (the woman was more harshly punished than the man). -Puritans usually had large families (they had a lot of children). This was normal. -25% of children would not live to adulthood. -They wanted to increase church membership. -Most lived in agricultural societies where the more help, the better, -Puritans were aware of contraceptive methods but looked down upon them. It was not considered legitimate sexual behavior. (Withdrawal before ejaculation, Folk & herbal remedies, Prolonged breast feeding)

U.S. v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries (1936)

-The U.S. Court of Appeals decided that it was LEGAL for doctors to distribute information & services related to contraception. -Contraceptive devices were legal in Japan, but not in the United States. -Sanger imported a box from Japan (illegal) which was the issue she used to bring this to court! -Major political victory: contraception became legal on the federal level of the U.S.

Religion & Sexual Legitimacy

-The state usually decides what is legitimate or not, but legislators pay attention to what the voters think of sexuality & make laws accordingly. -2003: Supreme Court repealed sodomy laws because the population thought there should be nothing illegal about 2 men having sex -Law usually reflects the public's views on sexual legitimacy, it doesn't create it. -Factors that affect public's perceptions on what is legitimate sex: religious ideals, established sexual norms, religious leaders (huge role)

Ideology of Separate Spheres

-This was a middle/upper class ideal. The working class couldn't afford to have 1 adult NOT contribute. -This doesn't work. Religious & secular ideals can't be separate. The state (public) has always regulated sexuality (private). Women have influenced politics by shaping public opinion to shape votes, even though they themselves couldn't vote or hold office. -Religious authorities capitalized on people's assumption that they are the ones who OUGHT to decide what should be sexually legitimate. They gained a lot of political power. -U.S. the religious leaders with the most power to influence sexual legitimacy have been Protestant Christian leaders

Eugenics

-Wanted people with good genes to reproduce with others with good genes. -Some advocated for those with disabilities to be forcibly sterilized. -Some of the most extreme eugenics believed that genetically bad people should be killed before they could reproduce -Part of mainstream science -Thought of as a legitimate way of ending human suffering

Mormons/Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

-Wanted to create their own spiritually perfect society. -Had complex marriage different than the Oneidas. They had polyamorous marriage. -Polygamy: Women could only have 1 sexual partner, men could have any #. -Oneidas: women/men could have any # of sexual partners -Mormon: originally a derogatory slur that Mormons eventually took on themselves -Much more successful than other utopian churches, even though they were generally not embraced by the people around them. -They settled in Ohio but into legal issues & had to leave. -Missouri: attached by people -Illinois: settled, church grew to almost 100,000, as they grew, non-Mormons began to dislike them even more -Generally speaking, Mormons were not embraced by the people around them

Women's Status Under Polygamy

-While polygamy was emotionally difficult for women whose husbands took on other wives, it did have certain benefits. -19th Century: Women had few economic & legal rights. Polygamy offered women the security & status of being a married women. -(They had none unless they got married.) Since the only men who could afford more than 1 wife were the elite most wealthy leaders of the community, the women had very high social status because of this attachment to the leaders of the community. -These women truly believed that polygamous marriages were the spiritual ideal. Even if they weren't excited, they saw it as a spiritual sacrifice because God wanted it.

Naturalization Act of 1790

-Why did most of these immigrants come from Europe? Only "free white persons of good character" could become naturalized citizens of the U.S. White persons = people whose ancestors were from Europe. This made the U.S. an attractive destination for European immigrants because they could basically show up, sign up, & be a citizen. It was not complicated. -Women: could NOT vote: didn't have the same citizenship rights as men, BUT they were still official citizens. -Debates on whether people from Mexico & the Middle East could be considered white. --Mexico: mixed decisions --Middle East: generally considered white & eligible for citizenship -Asians: Many from China. They came for economic opportunity, especially in booming cities in California. -Many racist legal barriers prevented many people from entering the U.S. This shows why most immigrants were European: they had close to no barriers.

Utah Territory

-Why was Utah attractive? -It was not officially owned by any specific government. Technically, Mexico owned it. BUT, there was no government infrastructure. -It was mainly wilderness, so it was sparsely populated. NO HOSTILE NEIGHBORS! 1850: the U.S. took in the Utah territory; President Fillmore declared Brigham Young to be the governor of the state (this was a colonialist move). -Mormons had OFFICIAL. LEGAL. & SPIRITUAL. control over their community! -This is a very unique position they were in.

Maria Monk

-Worked with Nativist men to create this narrative: The Awful Disclosures of... -The book was a HUGE success - a best seller. -Thousands believed it. -Seemed Pornographic at this time. -The men Maria Monk worked with took all the profits. She died a pauper. She hardly got any money from the book. -Journalists & a commission from the Catholic church investigated this convent to see if there was any truth to her claims. No evidence was found.

Adoption of Polygamy: 1853-1890

-Young publicized & advocated polygamy. He encouraged men to have more than 1 wife, and encouraged women to encourage their husbands to have another wife. -Because marriage was an economic unit, most Mormon men could NOT afford more than 1 wife. Therefore, polygamy was an ideal for the RICH. It was not common. -Why did mormon leaders adopted polygamy? TP! (1) theology (2) procreation

Puritan Theology

-aka the feminine soul -Puritans believed that the soul was feminine and that it would unite with either God (eternally blessed) or the Devil (damned to eternity). -Since the body protected the soul, if the Devil was in someone's soul, he could torture their bodies with pain or illness OR overpower their body with lust. -They thought women were less likely than men to be able to fight off the devil physically & sexually, so it was more likely that the Devil could take her over. -Once a woman gave her soul to the Devil, she used her body to corrupt more people.

Sexual Legitimacy

-certain acts are deemed legally & morally legitimate or illegitimate -Sexual acts have very real social consequences -ex) the state punishes illegitimate sexual acts

Puritan Sexual Transgressions

-severely punished by the law (1) Fornication: sex outside of marriage (2) Adultery: sex with someone who was already married (3) Rape: non consensual sex with someone you were not married to (4) Sodomy: any sexual act that didn't have the potential to lead to reproduction -Used to prosecute anal sex between men -Before 1660, the death penalty was the punishment. However, it was rare that the government actually killed people, especially men. Instead, they tried to punish them in a way that would allow them to channel their sexual energy towards marriage. -1645: An 18 year old woman was hanged for adultery with 8 men. -After 1660, the law changed for adultery: fine, public whipping, AD had to be sewn into clothing or burned into their skin -As long as men accepted their punishment & rechanneled their sexuality, it was ok Samuel Tarry: Had a history of sexual transgressions (masturbating in public, fornication). He still became a respectable man. He became town constable and was given the son of a man deemed unfit for fatherhood.

Puritan Social Organization

-the nuclear family (the basis of Puritan social life) would be undermined if women engaged in sex outside of marriage- they could be prosecuted as witches

film & sexual display

1900-1905: The film industry began. Nickelodeons were popular in the working class. (Machines where you put in coins so that 1 person can watch a short moving picture. Moved away from Nickelodeons to silent feature films. This was a more communal experience. 1920s: Film industry wanted to appeal to more people. To appeal to the middle class, they build large, beautiful, art-deco theaters. They hoped that by bringing film to a nice environment, the experience of film watching would be more respectable. It worked. Film became a favorite past-time of BOTH the working & middle class. New forms of overt sexuality were projected to the masses. (esp. Female sexuality)

Legal Birth Control in NY (1918)

1916: She started the country's 1st birth control clinic in Brooklyn. It was mainly inhabited by poor, immigrant Jews. 9 days after opening this clinic, she was arrested & sentenced to jail; appealed her sentence in court after court until 1918; the climate in NY had became so in favor of contraception 1916-1918: She was on trial. Hundreds of Jewish immigrant women came to testify on her behalf & explain why contraception was important. The press LOVED this & it was great for publicity. These women helped make the case that they needed contraception to LIVE. The women who spoke were generally MOTHERS who already had kids! They said they wanted contraception not because they didn't want children, but because they were already mothers & felt that if they had more children, they couldn't be a proper, real, true mother. They used the term 'motherhood' in their rhetoric to be convincing. It was convincing because they weren't unmarried women or women who didn't want children at all so they could have careers & independent. These women were mothers so they did not challenge the ideology of separate spheres. These women harnessed the idea of separate spheres in order to gain rights. Sanger's 1st major legal success! Legal birth control in NY. This ruled that medical professionals could prescribe contraceptives to patients. Sanger decided she had enough momentum to try to make birth control legal in the country. She knew she would first have to broaden her base of support, beyond the fringe of society (ex: immigrant jews, socialists). She reached out to eugenicists (were a HUGE part of the movement, they had universities & science on their side). Sanger said those with undesirable genetic traits could stop having children, although she never said that they could be killed. However, many of her speeches contain classist & racist commentary in an ironic way to increase her audience. Sanger used her political clout to promote causes that the eugenicists supported. ex) the idea that people with hereditary disabilities should be forcibly sterilized Her attempts to increase her support WORKED!

Aimee Semple McPherson

1920s/1930s Preacher. 2nd marriage. Had 2 kids. Decided she didn't just want to be a wife & mother. She wanted to preach the Bible. She started to hold revivals in tents around the country. She started to incorporate the new leisure world. ex) Held a revival in a boxing ring. Bought a large car (symbol of commercial life), called it the "gospel car," & drove around the country, lecturing with a megaphone from it. 1920s: Wanted to stop teaching the country, so she settled in LA (center of new film & radio industry). She used these new forms of communication to spread her message. 1st priest to spread message over the radio. She made short films of herself to deliver the message. When on film, her style was that of a Roaring 20s film star. Started her own "Foursquare Church". She held an extremely conservative message. Against evolution & popular culture. She went missing after swimming in Venice beach. 1 month later, she exited a desert. She said she was kidnapped & tortured & ascaped. People were skeptical because she seemed to be in good health, good shape, & her clothes were nice. Witnesses saw her in a seaside cottage w/a man she worked with at the radio station. This was a sex scandal! In a trial, she was charged with obstruction of justice. After the scandal, she continued to work in her church, but she lost a lot of support. Foursquare Church still exists today.

"New Women"

1920s: It was common for young women (aka "New Women") to have careers. Americans were fascinated. They made their own money, lived on their own, independent of fathers & husbands. Many articles & books written about them: some celebratory, others critical Accused of being sexually promiscuous. USUALLY, theatre & books gave them "happy" endings. The women eventually left the office, married their boss, had kids, & lived out the ideal of the separate sphere. Culture tolerated N.W. as long as they eventually left the workforce & settled down into a marriage.

New Attitudes About Sexality: 20th Century

19th Century: attitudes changed from sex = reproduction → intimacy & spirituality → EROTIC PLEASURE! People started to say they had a right to sexual pleasure & that this was key to a successful marriage. Increasingly, more Americans started to loosen the connections between sex & marriage. It was becoming more acceptable for men AND women to experience sexuality outside of the heterosexual marriage bond. 1920s "Roaring 20s": American youth developed their own subcultures for boys & girls to engage in certain amounts of sexual exploration. What was creating these changes in mentalities?

Religion & Physical Health

As people moved to polluted cities, they worried that they were becoming weaker & less healthy. Wanting to improve their bodies, new Protestant denominations popped up that emphasized that physical & spiritual health went hand in hand.

4 Factors that make Sexual Acts Legitimate

HAP-C -This doesn't apply to EVERYONE. Some have more strict guidelines about their sexual behavior, but these are general societal agreements. (1) Human: both parties are human (2) Adulthood: people participating are adults/old enough to offer consent (3) Privacy: occurs in private setting (4) Consent: both parties agree

Modernists v. Fundamentalists

In response to these challenges, U.S. Protestants experienced a theological split. -Modernists: Protestants open to the study of evolution & critical Bible study. -Fundamentalists: more conservative Protestant leaders against these trends. These divisions grew sharper over the course of the 20th century. Conservative Protestants published a series of books, the Fundamentals, that were distributed throughout the U.S. from 1910-15. They outlined the arguments of prominent Protestant theologians & defended the idea that God wrote the Bible. 1920s: The split grew deeper. Arguments started to include CULTURAL VALUES. Fundamentalists: reacted negatively to the fact that the ideology of separate spheres was breaking down: they didn't like New Women: jobs, makeup, outfits. They were ESPECIALLY worried about young women & men (especially women) of engaging in sexual activity outside of the heterosexual bond. Fundamentalists became more insistent that the world was corrupt & that their arguments had to be protected. Even though fundamentalists disapproved of theses values & of women's inclusion in the public sphere, Protestant culture was 100% affected by these changes.

Consumerism

Industrialization led to an unprecedented accumulation of wealth & goods. All sorts of products were available to the masses: factory made clothing, cosmetics Rise of mass consumerism by all Americans, from the richest to the poorest.

Methods of Birth Control in the 19th Century

Information about birth control circulated widely. Doctors published guidebooks & handbooks on a variety of methods to prevent pregnancy. Conjugal Celibacy - when married couples stop having sex if they do not want children; not a popular option Withdrawal - most common method; men & women could engage in vaginal sex; man removed penis before ejaculation; popular because it was free & involved no preparation Rhythm - married couples were encouraged to have sex during the time of month only when a woman could not conceive; the problem with this was that we were dealing with 19th century medicine & many doctors of the time didn't have a great sense of when a woman could & could not conceive; some guidebooks even gave the exact wrong information; developed a bad reputation for not being effective Doushing - washing out the vagina after sexual intercouse; did not work Condom - barrier method; made from animal skins or oiled silk; caught semen so it did not enter the vaginal canal & enter the cervix Late 19th century: natural rubber condoms became available Pessary - inserted into the vagina to prevent semen from entering the cervix; made from a variety of materials including sponge, cotton, wood Diaphragm - inserted in vagina to cover opening of the cervix Late 19th century

Public

MEN -enlightenment ideals: reason, science, rational, universal 1. Reason 2. Politics 3. Science 4. Business/Work 5. Military

Challenges to Religion: Darwin, Critical Bible Study

Many obstacles were challenging the way traditionalists thought of religion Darwin: The Origin of the Species: he challenged the literal word of the Bible by arguing that EVOLUTION, not God, was responsible for the existence of humans. Critical Bible Study: Critical bible scholars thought the bible had to be read historically like any other work of literature. It was written by people, NOT God. This sparked new inquiry. If God didn't write it, who did? The divine origins of the bible were no longer a given.

Changes in Leisure Activities

Night life & leisure activities were becoming more commercialized & more diverse. 19th century: mainly homosocial: men socialized with men, women w/women. 20th century: there were new options for leisure for the *working* class; heterosocial: both men AND women participated men & women, especially young & working classes started going to bars, theatre houses, commercial dances, amusement parks, etc, WHY the diversifying of leisure activities? WHY the *working* class first? Working Class: had already accepted that they were outside of the private sphere. They had a very different notion about free time. When they were in the factories working, they sensed that this time was not theirs. They valued their leisure time & knew no one could take it away from them. 1920s: this commercialization of leisure time was accepted in the middle class. Middle class women & men began to go to speakeasies (NOT called bars, because it was the PROHIBITION). As young unmarried people got to know each other, they were more likely to engage in heterosexual experimentation. It became more acceptable for unmarried teens to engage in kissing, hugging, etc. This would have been taboo in the 19th century.

Theology

REASON 1 WHY MORMONS ADOPTED POLYGAMY -Believed in millenarianism & wanted to live a spiritually perfect lifestyle to hasten it. -Smith & Young were convinced that the old Testament patriarchs (polygamists) were the model of a perfect society. -Oneida v. Mormon -Oneidan: not biblical; women didn't have more than 1 husband in bible -Mormon: biblical background

Procreation

REASON 2 WHY MORMONS ADOPTED POLYGAMY -Mormons rejected new 19th century ideas that sex was an expression of love. They said sex was primarily for procreation. -The Mormon community was a missionary religion. They wanted to produce new adherents. They wanted as many births as possible. Since they lived in wilderness & agrarian environments, children were helpful because they were more hands. -Most communities consisted of slightly fewer men than women. -Other than polygamy, there were one of the most sexually conservative 19th century groups. No masturbation, contraception, abortion, pre-marital sex, adultery (official punishment was death, but we don't have legal records of them actually enacting this punishment)

Vamp

Some of the most famous stars of the 1920s. evil, scantily clad, sexually available, lots of makeup, short skirts (only prostitutes wore this before), modeled intimacies (ex: kissing, hugging, etc.) Usually had a bad ending. SOMETIMES they found love/religion & changed These films punished/reformed vamps. Audiences were still fascinated by them. Vamps modeled new forms of erotic performance & sexual behavior to the public. Young women started to mimic vamps. They wore cosmetics & revealing clothing and engaged in sexual behavior as it became normalized by seeing it on screen.

Women in Public Sphere

The *ideal* of the ideology of separate spheres was starting to break down. It was becoming more acceptable for middle class women to engage in the public sphere. Remember: working class women always had to! 1919: Women Won the Right to Vote More economic opportunities began to open up to women. Women began entering non-traditional female occupations: medicine, priests, etc. 1920s: this phenomenon of respectable middle class working women had grown exponentially. In addition to social work, teaching, & nursing (feminized fields), clerical, retail clothing sales, & secretarial work had ALSO become feminized fields. This meant MORE economic opportunities for women, especially young women.

Sexual Utopias: Industrialization

The movement of Americans from rural areas to large industrial cities was socially disruptive & traumatizing. It disrupted feelings of belonging & moral codes that small towns had taken for granted. Small towns had a LOT of social control. Everyone knew each other & ostracized those who went against moral & religious norms. Cities had LITTLE social control. People felt lost in this new, anonymous environment. They felt that nothing was upholding their values & like they didn't belong anywhere. Many turned to religious groups to recreate this sense of belonging. Utopian communities marketed themselves by saying that anonymous cities made it easy to turn to a life of sin. The nuclear family couldn't protect moral values in large cities when temptation was so great. They said it was not effective for middle class families to continue to rely on mothers to teach morals. Utopian communities challenged the ideology of separate spheres. They aimed to transmit moral values in ways that did not rely on the nuclear family or the domestic sphere. They created alternatives of the families.

Private

WOMEN 1. Domestic 2. The Home 3. Family/Education 4. Religion 5. Sexuality 6. Morality 7. Child-Rearing

Eugenicists

a pseudo-scientific movement Goal: to improve the health of the human population through scientific breeding this movement was the result of 19th century industrialization: as they saw people suffering from disease, etc., they concluded that suffering was heredity & from bad genes They thought that since the poor didn't have the mental capacity to get good jobs & better themselves, they were likely to be sick since they didn't inherit healthy genes. Reality: they were living in tight & squalid conditions White Protestants: healthier & stronger because they're white Reality: they had more power & resources

Women's Rights Activists

argued that women ought to have more power in the public sphere ex) suffrage, women's education, for women to be able to have careers Understood that heterosexual married women were less likely to make strides in the public sphere unless they could control their births

Socialists

political radicals Long Term: wanted to end the power disparity between the poor & rich by reforming the government system from supporting private property to supportive collective ownership Short Term: they wanted to help the poor: were interested in birth control because they knew poor people suffered a lot more than wealthier people did if they had more children than they could afford; they could even starve

Millenarianism

popular belief that the 2nd coming of Christ (the world full of sin & strife would be replaced by 1,000 years of earthly peace & harmony) was about to happen at any moment People thought that if they tried to become spiritually perfect, the 2nd coming would occur faster.

Supporters of Birth Control (SEW-RA)

socialists, eugenicists, women's rights activists People began to band together to repeal the comstock laws to make birth control legal & legal to exchange information about it