In February 1917, Hubert Harrison delivered a series of lectures that challenged middle-class propriety and respectability by considering whether marriage was an institution esteemed primarily for the disposition of private property, suggesting that monogamy was unnatural, although imposed by state law and social regulation, and ill-suited to our erotic longings. On the topic “Is Birth Control Hurtful or Helpful?” he detailed what every woman should know about protecting herself and advocated for free love.
