Anthony J. Comstock was the king of such anti-sex campaigns. He founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1873 and started rounding up anyone involved in sex. Comstock said masturbation was “dangerous” and “embracing” was pornographic. “If almost all of America’s young men are addicted to this lethal practice,” wrote Comstock, “what hope remains for America?” Comstock was skeptical of reading. “It breeds lust,” he claimed.
