Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock

by Amy Werbel

Anthony Comstock was America's first professional censor. From 1873 to 1915, as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock led a crusade against lasciviousness, salaciousness, and obscenity that resulted in the confiscation and incineration of more than three million pictures, postcards, and books he judged to be obscene. But as Amy Werbel shows in this rich cultural and social history, Comstock's campaign to rid America of vice in fact led to greater acceptance of the materials he deemed objectionable, offering a revealing tale about the unintended consequences of censorship.



In Lust on Trial, Werbel presents a colorful journey through Comstock's career that doubles as a new history of post-Civil War America's risqu� visual and sexual culture. Born into a puritanical New England community, Anthony Comstock moved to New York in 1868 armed with his Christian faith and a burning desire to rid the city of vice. Werbel describes how Comstock's raids shaped New York City and American culture through his obsession with the prevention of lust by means of censorship, and how his restrictions provided an impetus for the increased circulation and explicitness of "obscene" materials. By opposing women who preached sexual liberation and empowerment, suppressing contraceptives, and restricting artistic expression, Comstock drew the ire of civil liberties advocates, inspiring more open attitudes toward sexual and creative freedom and more sophisticated legal defenses. Drawing on material culture high and low, including numerous examples of the "obscenities" Comstock seized, Lust on Trial provides fresh insights into Comstock's actions and motivations, the sexual habits of Americans during his era, and the complicated relationship between law and cultural change.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, American History, Biography, Sexuality, Pornography, Law

408 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

I fell in love with art as a kid growing up in New York City, and followed my passion to major in art history at Harvard, and then complete a PhD at Yale. My focus on American art in particular reflects my great admiration for the project of democracy, and fascination for the role visual culture plays in our dynamic, pluralistic, and complex society. Historical experiences and narratives are crucial elements of how we understand our nation, and our future possibilities. In all my work, I hope to help readers understand significant current issues in new ways through the lens of the past, and/or cross-cultural comparison.

Reviews

[Shoshana · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is an old saying, “A Puritan is someone who is deathly afraid that someone, somewhere, may be having fun.” When it comes to sexual fun there are always humorless, authoritarian types who wish to impose their own version of morality on everyone else. In the late nineteenth century the leading proponent of puritanical morality in the United States was a man called Anthony Comstock who headed up the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice.

Anthony Comstock was born in Connecticut in 1844 and raised in a very strict home and church. This influence would be a foundational pillar of his character; he considered himself to be a soldier for Christ and the Christian religion and dedicated himself to enforcing his views on the entire nation. Sexual behavior was his bugbear; he held that sexual activity, including masturbation, was always wrong except between married people for the purpose of procreation. (He must have been tons of fun as a husband.)

In New York City, after the Civil War, Comstock saw pornography and sexual licentiousness on all sides. (Of course, he was looking hard for it.) He, with the backing of a number of prominent men, eventually started the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice which he headed. Comstock became the country’s leading crusader against “vice,” not just pornography, but anything which he and his friends considered indecent, including contraceptives, sex toys (including dildoes), and abortion. Comstock managed to get himself attached to the United States Post Office, so that he was able to use the power of the federal government and the mail to prosecute offenders.

Inevitably, there was pushback. Not all American adults agreed with Comstock and his coterie, and plenty of them refused to give way to the contemporary Puritanism. Werbel makes the case quite convincingly that in reaction to Comstock, “Comstockery,” and the excessive actions of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, that artists, writers, journalists, lawyers, free speech advocates and the like pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, boundaries which most probably would have remained fuzzy or unexplored if not for Comstock.

“Lust on Trial” is a very interesting book about a subject which is little known today, but which has influence on twenty-first century life. I highly recommend it for those interested in social history, free speech, censorship, or the modern conflicts between those who would impose their narrow view of what is proper and the rest of us.

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m surprised by my less than enthusiastic reaction to this book because it seems like the perfect book I’d love. I think my biggest reserves are due to the murkiness on what the book is about. Is about Anthony Comstock, or is it about the history of sexual censorship? It gives the impression of both, but sometimes there are pages on pages of analyzing different paintings that were considered controversial to the time or things of that ilk. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can feel a bit like two analytic pieces being shoved into a single book. Amy Werbel’s interest in the subject as well as the research that went into it are evident on every page, and she’s done such a lovely job of presenting her research in this book.

This isn’t a criticism of the book itself or the author, but the formatting for the Kindle version of this e-galley was terrible. All kinds of punctuation, capitalization, indentation, etc. errors that made it extremely difficult to read. Sometimes the sentence would skip down two lines in the middle of a paragraph, so then there was this random broken line (occasionally with a page number thrown into that empty space?) in a paragraph that would pick up two lines down. It was extremely annoying to try to get through in that regard. Again, this isn’t a criticism of the author or the actual content of the book because this is solely about the formatting!

[Navi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biography about Anthony Comstock, an anti-vice activist from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. I enjoyed reading about Anthony's early life and how his Christian upbringing led him to become America's first professional censor.

He was an avid critic of art, theatre, and literature. This would occasionally work against Comstock. As he was the go-to man for all things obscenity, many artists, writers and producers eagerly sought his badge of disapproval. Once they made Comstock's list, individuals would have a handy and convenient guide on where to find vice rather than suppress.

There is a section in the book where the author switches her focus from the biographical details of Comstock's life to an analysis of the paintings/artwork that were deemed obscene. I didn't enjoy this part as much because there did not seem to be any cohesion in the narrative. It just felt like we were moving from one piece of artwork to the next until they all blurred together.

I received a free copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest. I totally judged this book by its title. I've read a few books about this time in NYC, and Anthony Comstock's name was everywhere. So I was gleeful when I saw this book. Truly & actually giddy. Sigh.

This book leans more towards academic tome rather than a biography. I described it to a friend as a parallel history of Comstock & porn/smut/vice (with pictures to prove it!). While this is not a bad thing, I was looking more for a true biography of Comstock. Maybe this would've been a different book if it was written by someone with more of a legal bent, rather than by someone with an art history background. Ah well. While I did learn some new things about Comstock, I'm still yearning to find out more about such a highly controversial person, who's reach is still felt today.

PS: I was leaning towards 2 stars, but the amount of research Ms Werbel put into this book, warranted the extra star.

[Neisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I would like to thank Columbia University Press for a free copy of this book** **This in no way affects my review**

This book is about Anthony Comstock who is known as one of America's first censors. He dedicated his whole life to eradicating obscene materials and trying to bring morals back into society.
The author really did her research on Comstock. This is a pretty deep book with some interesting and gossipy tidbits (which I delight in). There were a few parts where the story felt a bit stagnant, but for the most part I was engaged and intrigued.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration into the life and work of Anthony Comstock, famous or infamous for his work in suppressing vice, and compelling Americans to talk about the differences between art and pornography and the line between free speech and obscenity.

The author has done much research and demonstrates it well. The reader is given insight into Comstock's origins and the sources of his motivations; his career is systematically explained with plenty of primary source details provided. Comstock is well contextualized as are those who opposed him and the changes in society which took place during his life.

In the end the author proves quite unsympathetic to her subject and the work is written partly to explain how we got to where we are in terms of concerns about obscenity and the First Amendment arguments which led to expansion of free speech and free expression, but also to condemn not only Comstock but all who would come after him in their concerns. The author concludes with a desire to make sure that free speech and free expression are preserved from zealous neo-Comstocks; I am sure she has Ashcroft and his covering of Lady Justice in mind.

And, to that end, she has a point for her concern; it is one thing to have personal scruples, and it is quite another to attempt to impose them on everyone else. What is disappointing is that there is no counterbalance, no concern as to whether unbridled free expression is really a great or healthy thing for a society, and whether there should be some set of standards for public decency so as to allow some people, if they so choose, to maintain more strict standards about what they see and consume than others. And there is certainly no discussion in the work about how Comstockery may come from the Left in its own zeal in attempting to reform morals and suppress what is seen as vice, offensive literature and ideas, and the like.

Such is not an attempt to justify Comstock in his methods, approach, or excess; but if Comstock is going to be held up as a warning about what happens when someone with an understandable concern is given too much power and influence to shut down and shame, then that warning should be broadcast across the spectrum, not giving a pass to your own tribe and signaling one's fear of the other tribe.

Also, erotic Victorian imagery present within the book.

**--galley received as part of early review program

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A colorful, fascinating cultural and social history focusing on Anthony Comstock, America’s first professional censor, who as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, led a dogged forty-year crusade against lasciviousness, salaciousness, and obscenity resulting in the confiscation and destruction of more than three million pictures, postcards, and books he judged obscene. Comstock's campaign to rid America of vice ironically led to greater acceptance of the materials he deemed objectionable, revealing the ultimate futility of censorship.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tired: people in the 19th century were so uptight they even covered the piano legs!

Wired: the 19th century was awash in porn and sex toys, with each new media technology (photography, film, cheap printing, vulcanizing rubber, the phonograph) being used almost immediately to distribute sexually explicit material. Which upset Anthony Comstock so much that he began a freelance campaign to stop it!

(He was not successful overall)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am somewhat torn on this book. Obviously, as Werbel points out, very little has been written on Comstock for decades. That said, this book's subject matter is somewhat diverged. It is somewhat of a biography, somewhat a history of sexual expression without getting into the details of either. I think the author's overall argument is spot on and wholly fascinating, but I didn't walk away really understanding "Comstock the man," per se.

That said, I thought Werbel's discussion of Comstock's war against fine art was fascinating, and the stories about Colgate and the Vaseline debacle made me laugh. I also liked that the author framed Comstock' career in terms of Victorian Woodhull and Margaret Sanger. Overall, this book is certainly an education and an eyeful, and it prompts the reader to consider questions about a national sense of morality, freedom of expression, and the dangers of censorship.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a research paper I wrote on morality from the Gilded Age through the Progressive Age. Reading about obscenity and censorship should be fascinating but somehow this author failed. This book was so dry and predictable - I was able to use it to some extent for my project but I was overall underwhelmed. I really expected more.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well documented and researched, but this was a fairly dry treatment of what could have a been a much more entertaining read. It kind of felt like someone's dissertation rather than a book meant for popular consumption.

[Geoff Walling · Rating 2 out of 5]

The life of Anthony Comstock. Interesting topic but not interesting or compelling.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, relevant history of a fraught topic in American history and society.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great account of Anthony Comstock's career, one spent obsessing over and trying to shut down sexual freedoms ranging from masturbation to birth control. Comstock notoriously raided bars, art studios, the mail, and private homes in search of what he considered obscene material, which could be paintings of nudes, sculptures, pornographic photographs, and erotic novels. Werbel examines Comstock's motivations, his successes, failures, and legacy in America in a highly readable and entertaining manner, including images of many of the items Comstock sought to suppress.