Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface A Note about the Cover
List of Illustrations
PART ONE
INTRODUCTION: Voices in the Sexual Conversation in Antebellum America
Voices in the Public Deliberation of Sex: The Four Frameworks
Controversy and Commerce
Coda: The Comstock Law of 1873
PART TWO
THE DOCUMENTS
1. Voices in the Sexual Conversation: The Four Frameworks
The First Framework: Vernacular Sexuality 1. From
Aristotle’s Master-piece, 1741
The Second Framework: Evangelical Christianity 2. Lyman Beecher, From
A Reformation of Morals Practicable and Indispensable, 1812, and From
Resources of the Adversary and Means of their Destruction, 1827
3. Lyman Beecher,
The Perils of Atheism to the Nation, 1830
The Third Framework: Reform Psychology Freethinking
4. Frances Wright,
Nashoba, Explanatory Notes, &c., Continued, February 6, 1828
5. Frances Wright,
On the Nature of Knowledge, 1829
6. Robert Dale Owen, From
Moral Physiology, 1831
7. Charles Knowlton, From
Fruits of Philosophy, 1832
Christian Reform Psychology
8. Sylvester Graham,
On the Science of Human Life, 1834
The Masturbation Scare
9. Sylvester Graham,
On Self-Pollution, 1834
10. Luther V. Bell, M.D., From
An Hour's Conference with Fathers and Sons, 1840
11. Mary S. Gove [Nichols], From
Solitary Vice, 1839
12. Charles Knowlton,
Gonorrhoea Dormientium, August 10,1842
New Voices at Mid-Century
13. William Andrus Alcott, From
The Physiology of Marriage, 1856
14. Lorenzo N. Fowler, From
The Principles of Phrenology and Physiology Applied to Man's Social Relations, 1842
15. Lorenzo N. Fowler, From
Marriage: Its History and Ceremonies, 1846
16. Orson S. Fowler, From
Love and Parentage, 1851
17. Frederick Hollick, From
The Origin of Life, 1845
18. Frederick Hollick,
From
The Marriage Guide, 1859
The Fourth Framework: Sex at the Center of Life 19. Thomas L. Nichols, M.D., From
Esoteric Anthropology, 1854
20. Thomas L. Nichols and Mary S. Gove Nichols, From
Marriage, 1854
2. Controversy and Commerce
Phase 1: The 1840s 21. Madame Restell,
Advertisements, March 2, 1842
22. From
The Magdalen Report, 1831
23. Sunday Flash,
Lives of the Nymphs, No. 11: Amanda Green, October 17, 1841
24. Whip,
Excerpts, July 9, 1842
25. Whip,
Our Tenth Walk About Town; or, Nights in Gotham, December 24,1842
26. Whip,
Sodomites, January 29, 1842
27. Flash,
Our Indictments, December 11, 1841
Phase 2: The 1850s 28. P. F. Harris,
Advertisement, February 19, 1855
29. George Thompson, From
The Mysteries of Bond Street, 1857
30. Dr. J. Henry,
Henry's Private Adviser, 1856
31. Julia Gaylove,
Inez de Castro, May 23, 1857
32. Jean Rosseau,
Advertisements, January 31, 1857
3. Coda: The Comstock Law of 1873 33. U.S. Congress,
An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use, March 3, 1873
Appendixes
A Chronology of the Literature of Sexual Conversation in Antebellum America (1684–1873)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index