The 19th century saw the rise of a number of controversial social movements focusing on sexuality. The free love movement, which began in the 1820s, preached that love, not marriage, should be the prerequisite to sexual relations. Free love advocates criti-
cized the sexual “slavery” of women in marriage, often condemned the sexual exploitation of slaves, and condemned uncontrolled sexuality unconnected to love (though their critics often claimed that they preached promiscuity).
Another controversial group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, announced in 1852 that many of its members practiced polygamy, which almost cost Utah its statehood. As with the free love movement, Americans accused the Mormons of loose morals even though, despite their acceptance of polygamy, they were very sexually conservative (Iverson, 1991). A number of small communities that practiced alternative forms of sexual relations also began during this time. The Oneida community preached group marriage, whereas the Shakers, frustrated with all the arguments over sexuality, practiced strict celibacy.
By the close of the 19th century, the medical model of sexuality began to emerge. Americans became obsessed with sexual health, and physicians and reformers began to advocate self-restraint, abstention from masturbation, and eating “nonstimulating” foods. Doctors also argued that women were ruled by their wombs, and many had their ovaries surgically removed to “correct” masturbation or sexual passion. An influential group of physicians even argued that women were biologically designed for procreation and destined only for marriage, for they were too delicate to work or undergo the rigors of higher education. These theories completely ignored the fact that lower-class women often worked difficult labor 12 and 15 hours a day. Male sexuality, however, was viewed as normative.
In the 19th century, homosexuality was underground, though there were some open same-sex relationships that may or may not have been sexual. For example, there are a number of recorded cases in which women dressed and passed as men and even “married” other women (we will discuss this more in Chapter 3). There were also men who wrote of intimate and loving relationships with other men, without an explicit admission of sexual contact. The great poet Walt Whitman, now recognized as a homosexual, at times confirmed his erotic attraction to men, while at other times he denied it. In accordance with the developing medical model of sexuality, physicians began to argue that homosexuality was an illness rather than a sin, a view that lasted until the 1970s (Hansen, 1989; see Chapter 11).
The movements for more open sexual relationships were countered by strong voices arguing for a return to a more religious and chaste morality, an argument that continues more than a century later. In the 1870s, Anthony Comstock, a dry-goods salesman, single — handedly lobbied the legislature to outlaw obscenity. The resulting Comstock Act of 1873 prohibited the mailing of obscene, lewd, lascivious, and indecent writing or advertisements, including articles about contraception or abortion. Comstock himself was the act’s most vigorous enforcer, and he reported hundreds of people to the authorities, even for such things as selling reprints of famous artwork containing nudity or famous books that mentioned prostitution. Literally thousands of books, sexual objects, and contraceptive devices were destroyed, denying many people sophisticated contraceptive devices or information for almost 60 years (D’Emilio & Freedman, 1988).