Rereading sex: battles over sexual knowledge and suppression in nineteenth-century America

Introduction

Part I : Sexual conversation

Vernacular sexual culture, commercial erotica, and obscene libel ; Free thought, sexual knowledge, and Evangelical Christianity ; Blasphemy, birth control, and obscenity ; Masturbation scare and the rise of reform physiology

Part II : New York scene

New York and the emergence of sporting culture ; Moral reformers ; Sporting weeklies and obscene libel ; Abortion ; Obscenity in the city

Part III : Additions and complications

Placing sex at the core of being ; Blurring the boundaries

Part IV : Sexual knowledge and obscenity in New York and the nation

Y.M.C.A. of New York, the Civil War, and Anthony Comstock ; Sex talk in the open ; Victoria Woodhull ; Comstock Law ; Comstock's crusade ; Convictions ; Constitutionality and resistance : Bennett, Benedict, and Blatchford.