WEBVTT - Boo Birth Control!!! Comstock Part 1 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:13.565 School of Humans. Hey, filth heads, So I lie to you. 0:00:13.685 --> 0:00:17.365 In fact, I'm not doing another Bedfellow's head Fellows episode today, 0:00:17.765 --> 0:00:20.365 And that was the past few episodes where we were 0:00:20.365 --> 0:00:24.725 looking at different people throughout history, throughout American history who 0:00:24.765 --> 0:00:28.125 might have been a little bit gay. But the reason 0:00:28.965 --> 0:00:32.885 I'm not doing the episode today is because we're actually 0:00:32.965 --> 0:00:37.045 gonna do it at our first American filth live recording. 0:00:37.165 --> 0:00:44.085 A drum roll, that's a terrible drum but yes, we're 0:00:44.125 --> 0:00:47.525 gonna do the next Bedfellows Headfellows episode live. It's gonna 0:00:47.565 --> 0:00:50.325 be fun. So if you're gonna be in Atlanta, Georgia 0:00:50.405 --> 0:00:53.525 on Saturday, June twenty ninth, come out to the show. 0:00:53.765 --> 0:00:56.005 It's gonna be at this fun little venue called Dynamic 0:00:56.005 --> 0:01:02.005 El Dorado, and there will be history, frivolity, antics, bad jokes, 0:01:02.285 --> 0:01:05.685 some good jokes, stand up, even improv is. 0:01:05.685 --> 0:01:06.285 Gonna be there. 0:01:06.925 --> 0:01:09.165 The ticket link is in the show notes, or if 0:01:09.205 --> 0:01:12.485 you visit us on Instagram at American Filth Pod you 0:01:12.525 --> 0:01:15.725 can find all the information there. And yes, I will 0:01:15.725 --> 0:01:18.365 be reminding you over the next few weeks in the 0:01:18.445 --> 0:01:22.365 episodes might even be a little annoying about it, so 0:01:22.405 --> 0:01:24.925 please come out on June twenty ninth. 0:01:24.965 --> 0:01:29.965 It's gonna be fun. But now we're gonna move on to. 0:01:30.125 --> 0:01:36.325 Another juicy, totally not controversial topic, birth control. 0:01:36.965 --> 0:01:37.885 Have you guys heard of this? 0:01:38.885 --> 0:01:42.125 People have been trying to avoid having babies since the 0:01:42.285 --> 0:01:47.565 dawn of time. Literally, like even at the beginning of 0:01:47.605 --> 0:01:50.325 the universe, the universe was like, just because I did 0:01:50.365 --> 0:01:52.205 a big bang, that doesn't mean I want. 0:01:52.125 --> 0:01:53.085 A big baby. 0:01:55.245 --> 0:01:57.125 That is the type of bad joke that will probably 0:01:57.125 --> 0:02:01.845 be included at the American filth Live event anyway. But 0:02:01.965 --> 0:02:04.165 also since the dawn of time, people have had very 0:02:04.205 --> 0:02:08.485 strong opinions about birth control, big opinions, and a lot 0:02:08.525 --> 0:02:11.845 of the conversations we have today we've actually been having 0:02:11.925 --> 0:02:15.445 for hundreds of years. There's always been a lot of 0:02:15.485 --> 0:02:18.165 people being like, yeah, you should only have sex for 0:02:18.205 --> 0:02:21.205 the purposes of having a baby, not for the lols, 0:02:21.285 --> 0:02:25.965 not for the pleasure doo. We must suffer, and especially women, 0:02:26.365 --> 0:02:32.885 especially people with uteruses, because they are whores. And one 0:02:32.925 --> 0:02:35.485 man who tried to get rid of people's access to 0:02:35.565 --> 0:02:40.805 contraceptive devices was this little Christian boy named Anthony Comstock. 0:02:41.525 --> 0:02:43.685 He was so Christian that he worked at the Young 0:02:43.725 --> 0:02:48.925 Men's Christian Association for a while aka the YMCA, which 0:02:49.005 --> 0:02:51.605 I think it's fun that that was a Christian organization 0:02:51.845 --> 0:02:54.765 because later it became the spot to go to if 0:02:54.805 --> 0:02:57.165 you were trying to cruise around and pick up another 0:02:57.285 --> 0:03:02.485 gay man. Wow, everyone's gay. It's all related. But Anthony 0:03:02.525 --> 0:03:04.405 Comstock's also funny. 0:03:04.485 --> 0:03:05.685 His name's Comstock. Suck. 0:03:06.165 --> 0:03:09.805 We're well stocked with com anyway. Near the end of 0:03:09.805 --> 0:03:16.325 the nineteenth century, Comstock became the crusader against American obscenity. 0:03:16.605 --> 0:03:18.845 And birth control. Mm mmmm mmm. 0:03:18.805 --> 0:03:23.645 That is for sinners, And in eighteen seventy three, Congress 0:03:23.685 --> 0:03:28.285 actually passed the Comstock Act, which affected birth control, which 0:03:28.325 --> 0:03:34.285 affected art, which changed the censorship landscape in America forever. 0:03:35.285 --> 0:03:37.685 Well, I mean for a long time. Anyway. 0:03:37.765 --> 0:03:46.565 Cue the theme song. This is American Filth. I'm Gabby Watts. 0:03:47.085 --> 0:03:50.245 Every week I tell you a filthy story from American history. 0:03:51.245 --> 0:03:55.645 This week's episode come Come, Come, Come, Come, Come Stop 0:03:56.485 --> 0:04:00.365 Part one. Sorry, guys, I was imagining it kind of 0:04:00.405 --> 0:04:04.645 like shots shots, shot shots, shot shots. But colm anyway, 0:04:04.725 --> 0:04:10.605 I hope you guys enjoyed the episode. Ah, filth heads, 0:04:10.605 --> 0:04:12.485 you're not gonna believe this, but we're actually gonna break 0:04:12.525 --> 0:04:13.725 format yet again. 0:04:13.925 --> 0:04:15.525 But it's gonna be fun, I promise. 0:04:15.965 --> 0:04:20.485 Before we get into the American history stuff, we thought 0:04:20.565 --> 0:04:23.445 that it'd be interesting to hear some more about birth 0:04:23.445 --> 0:04:27.285 controls throughout time, many of which have been very filthy 0:04:27.285 --> 0:04:30.765 and gross. And so I actually have my pal slash 0:04:30.805 --> 0:04:34.085 colleague slash, one of the American filth writers, Julia Chris 0:04:34.085 --> 0:04:36.005 Gao here, Hey, hey, Julia. 0:04:35.725 --> 0:04:38.085 What's up? Oh, hey, what's up? I'm glad to be here. 0:04:38.445 --> 0:04:41.165 Yeah, crazy, you're on the show now, Oh my god, 0:04:41.405 --> 0:04:42.245 how do you feel? 0:04:42.645 --> 0:04:43.405 Very excited? 0:04:43.805 --> 0:04:47.205 Yeah, our seventeen to thirty six listeners are going to 0:04:47.285 --> 0:04:49.405 be thrilled to hear about these things. 0:04:49.445 --> 0:04:51.285 So stoked. It's gonna be so fun. 0:04:51.565 --> 0:04:55.405 But yeah, Julia, have found a bunch of relatively well 0:04:55.565 --> 0:04:58.725 kind of like unbelievable sort of birth controls people have 0:04:58.845 --> 0:05:01.045 used throughout history. So we're going to go through some 0:05:01.125 --> 0:05:04.325 of those. Like, you know, there was literal shit in 0:05:04.405 --> 0:05:07.045 some of them. So yeah, here we go a brief 0:05:07.125 --> 0:05:09.845 history of the filthiest versions of birth control. 0:05:12.885 --> 0:05:15.845 A Hippocratic text, probably the earliest one circle like four 0:05:15.925 --> 0:05:20.805 hundred BC, used to recommend drinking copper and salt mixed 0:05:20.805 --> 0:05:24.285 with water and yes, It's true copper does mess with 0:05:24.365 --> 0:05:28.405 sperm's motility, but it also messes with your body by 0:05:28.685 --> 0:05:29.605 like poisoning it. 0:05:30.165 --> 0:05:32.205 Wait, would men drink this one? 0:05:32.725 --> 0:05:32.925 Oh? 0:05:32.965 --> 0:05:36.285 No, women, it was always right, okay, good well, thank goodness, 0:05:36.285 --> 0:05:39.725 we've always been the ones had to be responsible, all right. 0:05:39.725 --> 0:05:42.045 So another one was then after that was in ancient China, 0:05:42.605 --> 0:05:43.765 people would mix. 0:05:43.845 --> 0:05:47.645 Lead and mercury. Mmmm, it encaged. You didn't know this. 0:05:47.725 --> 0:05:51.845 Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is heavily regulated today 0:05:51.885 --> 0:05:55.365 because it messes up your brain. But back then, you know, 0:05:55.565 --> 0:05:58.765 dudes were like, hey, maybe this could also prevent pregnancy, 0:05:59.005 --> 0:05:59.285 and it. 0:05:59.245 --> 0:06:01.605 Mess you up so much that there's no way your 0:06:01.605 --> 0:06:03.725 body could be a place where a baby could grow 0:06:03.805 --> 0:06:05.805 if you have a bunch of mercury in it. So 0:06:05.845 --> 0:06:09.045 in eighteen fifty BC, there are reports of people using 0:06:09.165 --> 0:06:13.445 crocodile dung like actual hoop from a crocodile and honey, 0:06:13.845 --> 0:06:17.125 and the acidity of the dung acted as a spermicide. 0:06:17.165 --> 0:06:20.805 And then they were like, honey is antimicrobial, so it 0:06:20.925 --> 0:06:22.325 kills the bacteria from the dung. 0:06:22.485 --> 0:06:24.325 Well that was not true. 0:06:24.805 --> 0:06:28.685 They would though, sort of like coat the dung in honey, 0:06:28.725 --> 0:06:30.725 and that would act as like a physical. 0:06:30.365 --> 0:06:33.165 Barrier aka lube. They would lube it up. 0:06:33.125 --> 0:06:37.405 With some honey, and then some cultures even added acacia leaves, 0:06:37.765 --> 0:06:40.645 which actually does ferment to create a sort of spermicide. 0:06:40.645 --> 0:06:42.165 But none of these. 0:06:42.005 --> 0:06:46.325 Were safe or effective whatsoever. There was lots of bacteria, 0:06:46.485 --> 0:06:48.085 lots of infections. 0:06:48.125 --> 0:06:50.165 Not a good thing to do use poop. 0:06:50.885 --> 0:06:53.845 Yeah, this just sounds like a uti. Just give yourself 0:06:53.885 --> 0:06:55.285 a really bad uti. 0:06:55.885 --> 0:06:58.765 That's so painful, Oh my gosh. 0:06:59.285 --> 0:07:01.765 Yeah. Then we have like the ancient Greeks, they use 0:07:01.845 --> 0:07:05.885 a giant type of fennyl like plants as an oral contracept, 0:07:06.005 --> 0:07:08.765 and by one idea, it became so popular that it 0:07:08.805 --> 0:07:11.005 was worth more than its weight in silver. 0:07:11.925 --> 0:07:15.525 Yeah, and then eventually that plant went extinct because too 0:07:15.565 --> 0:07:18.485 many people were using it, because too many people were fucking. 0:07:20.205 --> 0:07:22.805 I feel like that's the constant throughout history is just 0:07:22.885 --> 0:07:26.005 people stay fucking no matter what people do. 0:07:26.045 --> 0:07:27.645 I feel like that's sort of moral too, of the 0:07:27.685 --> 0:07:28.605 story that we'll get. 0:07:28.445 --> 0:07:29.925 Too later exactly. 0:07:30.045 --> 0:07:34.285 Yeah, people will always everybody poops and everybody fucks. So 0:07:34.485 --> 0:07:36.965 the Greeks, because it went extinct, they had to kind 0:07:36.965 --> 0:07:39.725 of pivot. So this one dude, suggested that as the 0:07:39.725 --> 0:07:43.325 male ejaculates quote, the female must hold her breath and 0:07:43.405 --> 0:07:45.965 draw herself away a little so that the seed may 0:07:46.005 --> 0:07:47.165 not be hurled. 0:07:46.845 --> 0:07:48.965 Too deep into the cavity of her uterus. 0:07:49.085 --> 0:07:53.245 Very Greek, very dramatic, then getting up immediately she should 0:07:53.325 --> 0:07:57.845 be squatting down. She should induce sneezing and carefully wipe 0:07:57.885 --> 0:08:00.085 the vagina all around. 0:08:01.365 --> 0:08:03.885 It is kind of like an opposite like pull and prey, 0:08:03.925 --> 0:08:06.445 where it's like the woman has to pull herself out 0:08:06.685 --> 0:08:09.045 into the man pulling himself out. 0:08:09.645 --> 0:08:14.165 Yes, basically, so hopefully he pulls out, and she has 0:08:14.205 --> 0:08:18.085 to also just like draw herself into a corner squat 0:08:18.125 --> 0:08:23.005 and try and induce sneezing to like queep out all 0:08:23.085 --> 0:08:23.965 the sperms. 0:08:24.085 --> 0:08:27.005 Yeah, queeth out the sperm. That's what I've always been saying. 0:08:28.725 --> 0:08:30.205 Oh yeah. And then there was also the Greeks. 0:08:30.205 --> 0:08:32.645 What they would also do is they would they would 0:08:32.725 --> 0:08:37.925 use lead concoctions that blacksmiths would provide, so then instead 0:08:37.925 --> 0:08:41.925 of mercury, you would be drinking like run off from them, 0:08:41.965 --> 0:08:46.765 making armor and blades a little like iron juice exactly. 0:08:46.805 --> 0:08:48.485 I mean, if you're anemic, that might be good. 0:08:48.725 --> 0:08:53.885 Yeah, getting that iron shut your iron in similar to 0:08:53.925 --> 0:08:58.165 the to the inducing sneezing. While squatting. In tenth century Persia, 0:08:58.285 --> 0:09:01.725 women were told to jump backwards like seven or nine times, 0:09:01.765 --> 0:09:05.125 because those were sacred numbers seven and nine. So the 0:09:05.165 --> 0:09:07.005 women that we're doing this, we're hoping that God would 0:09:07.045 --> 0:09:09.965 intervene and thwart the convergence of the sperm and the egg. 0:09:10.445 --> 0:09:12.485 I mean, if you jumped eight times, heaven forbid, I 0:09:12.485 --> 0:09:13.685 think you'd get triplets. 0:09:14.085 --> 0:09:15.485 Oh God, I didn't. 0:09:15.325 --> 0:09:17.565 Know they could count that high back then. That's pretty impressive. 0:09:18.325 --> 0:09:24.205 Well counting the new innovation, yeah for real. Ooh, and 0:09:24.205 --> 0:09:26.325 then we got into the eleventh century, is that we 0:09:26.405 --> 0:09:30.365 got the crocodile dung is being substituted for elephant dung. 0:09:31.125 --> 0:09:33.565 And then in the Middle Ages fifteenth century or so, 0:09:33.725 --> 0:09:37.125 they would use animal dung along with juniper berries and 0:09:37.325 --> 0:09:40.565 tar because that was a thing. And then they would 0:09:40.605 --> 0:09:43.405 take this concoction and instead of like putting it on 0:09:43.445 --> 0:09:45.685 the penis, using it as loub doing that whole thing, 0:09:46.085 --> 0:09:49.525 they would just smear it all over there vagina before 0:09:50.005 --> 0:09:52.005 intercourse and after intercourse. 0:09:54.005 --> 0:09:57.285 But okay, going beyond the dung stuff, though, women in 0:09:57.325 --> 0:10:01.685 the Middle Ages were advised by magicians. 0:10:01.845 --> 0:10:03.405 I feel like that's the first red flag. 0:10:03.445 --> 0:10:07.845 Being advised by magicians to tie weasel testicles to a 0:10:07.925 --> 0:10:11.925 tree during intercourse, and if the testicles weren't available, they 0:10:11.925 --> 0:10:14.485 would tie an amputated foot around their neck. 0:10:14.845 --> 0:10:15.365 Instead. 0:10:15.765 --> 0:10:19.685 Okay, it's apparently that's going to prevent pregnancy, because this 0:10:19.805 --> 0:10:23.445 one seems more of like a ViBe's based contraceptive. Where 0:10:23.445 --> 0:10:25.445 before you know, you had sort of like this physical dung. 0:10:25.605 --> 0:10:27.605 Now the magician's like this is some magic. 0:10:28.245 --> 0:10:31.445 Well yeah, and then these sort of like the feet 0:10:31.525 --> 0:10:36.605 and the testicles started to be packaged. So this ambulets 0:10:36.685 --> 0:10:39.685 sort of started to become popular to be worn during intercourse, 0:10:39.725 --> 0:10:42.725 and they could do to your like sometimes tied around 0:10:42.725 --> 0:10:49.045 your thigh, sometimes tied around the tree outside your living space, super. 0:10:48.845 --> 0:10:50.405 Magical, super woo woo. 0:10:50.685 --> 0:10:54.725 And these these amulets would contain things like cat bones 0:10:55.285 --> 0:10:57.125 or the liver or the anus of a. 0:10:57.165 --> 0:11:01.005 Rabbit, the two choices, the two body parts. 0:11:01.365 --> 0:11:05.885 Yeah, and a cloth soaked with menstrual blood. And if 0:11:05.925 --> 0:11:09.805 you're using a cat for these cat bones in your amulet, 0:11:09.885 --> 0:11:11.565 it has to be all black. 0:11:12.685 --> 0:11:13.045 Okay. 0:11:13.085 --> 0:11:17.725 Alternatively, if you didn't want testicles or amulets or anything, 0:11:18.605 --> 0:11:21.805 you could walk in circles around the place where a 0:11:21.965 --> 0:11:23.845 pregnant wolf has urinated. 0:11:23.925 --> 0:11:25.605 That was another choice you could do. 0:11:26.325 --> 0:11:27.885 I mean like there's a variety of sort of like 0:11:27.925 --> 0:11:29.885 you can have sort of like a device, or you 0:11:29.925 --> 0:11:32.645 can kind of like do a process, you know. 0:11:35.805 --> 0:11:39.405 So then by the late sixteen hundreds, fish bladders emerged 0:11:39.445 --> 0:11:43.005 as a very very popular form of birth control, which is, 0:11:43.285 --> 0:11:46.085 if you can imagine it, it's like you know thin, 0:11:46.485 --> 0:11:51.805 its durable, little effect on sensation, and they were especially 0:11:51.925 --> 0:11:54.565 used at first among the soldiers of King Charles. 0:11:54.605 --> 0:11:57.965 The first ooh, this is kind of sounding like a condom, 0:11:58.285 --> 0:12:00.085 a condom that's emerging. 0:12:00.165 --> 0:12:03.565 Exactly, So before they would use them, they would hopefully 0:12:03.765 --> 0:12:08.965 clean the bladder, hopefully clean the bladder thoroughly, and tie 0:12:09.045 --> 0:12:11.205 it at the end with a ribbon, basically. 0:12:10.805 --> 0:12:12.005 Creating the first condom. 0:12:12.125 --> 0:12:17.365 Ooh. Unlike modern condoms, though, these fish butters were often reused. 0:12:18.045 --> 0:12:23.005 Wow, a sustainable option. That is actually our new American 0:12:23.045 --> 0:12:26.045 filth merchandise. You can go to Americi dot common. I'm 0:12:26.045 --> 0:12:29.445 just kidding, guys, we don't have that yet. So while 0:12:29.445 --> 0:12:33.085 that was like the primary contraceptives for like seventeenth century England, 0:12:33.485 --> 0:12:36.445 the ancient Romans, though they might have also had a 0:12:36.485 --> 0:12:40.245 condom type thing where they used intestines and bladders as 0:12:40.285 --> 0:12:44.125 protection from STIs. So that was smart, you know, I 0:12:44.125 --> 0:12:46.005 guess yeah, you see guts, You're. 0:12:45.885 --> 0:12:48.045 Like, I could put that on my dick exactly. 0:12:48.165 --> 0:12:50.365 Yeah, you're like, hmm, that looks like I could make 0:12:50.365 --> 0:12:54.805 something else out of it. And then around that same time, 0:12:54.925 --> 0:13:00.965 in seventeen hundreds, this guy actually named Giovanni Casanova, he 0:13:01.045 --> 0:13:05.205 invented his own version of a cervical cap with a lemon. 0:13:05.525 --> 0:13:07.645 So I feel like this is like sort of common 0:13:07.645 --> 0:13:09.245 knowledge when you and I were growing up a little 0:13:09.245 --> 0:13:12.085 bit like that. Sometimes people just like shove a lemon 0:13:12.165 --> 0:13:12.445 up there. 0:13:13.565 --> 0:13:14.405 Maybe that's just me. 0:13:14.685 --> 0:13:15.605 Well, you grew up. 0:13:15.525 --> 0:13:18.085 In a bohemian New York city. I was down here 0:13:18.085 --> 0:13:19.125 in Atlanta, Georgia. 0:13:19.165 --> 0:13:20.285 We didn't do shit like that. 0:13:20.445 --> 0:13:24.885 At that's true. I never did it, but I heard tell. 0:13:25.165 --> 0:13:27.565 But yeah, So this is basically the emergence of like 0:13:27.645 --> 0:13:31.645 what we recognize as like the first kind of cervical cap. 0:13:31.925 --> 0:13:33.005 And you basically it's. 0:13:32.845 --> 0:13:37.205 A partly squeezed half a lemon and it's inserted into 0:13:37.205 --> 0:13:38.845 the cervix before intercourse. 0:13:39.165 --> 0:13:41.965 And of course the level of acidity was very damaging 0:13:42.085 --> 0:13:44.365 to his lover's bodies. But who cares if it works 0:13:44.445 --> 0:13:46.885 right as long as he's getting what. 0:13:46.925 --> 0:13:52.485 He needs exactly. Boo women, That's what I'm always saying. Oh, 0:13:52.485 --> 0:13:54.765 but don't worry birth control. It got even more grim 0:13:55.285 --> 0:13:58.685 during the fur trade era of the eighteen hundreds, women 0:13:58.725 --> 0:14:02.365 from New Brunswick, Canada would drink dried beaver test skull 0:14:02.525 --> 0:14:07.285 soaked in moonshine. No one really knows the rationale for this, 0:14:07.445 --> 0:14:10.245 except that bieber testicles were often used to cure common 0:14:10.325 --> 0:14:14.405 colds and other ailments. I'm sure they cured them, and 0:14:14.485 --> 0:14:18.405 that the testicles contained a very potent smelling substance, and 0:14:18.445 --> 0:14:20.365 the smell itself might be enough to just. 0:14:20.405 --> 0:14:21.485 Drive your partner away. 0:14:21.525 --> 0:14:23.565 And that's a great way not to get pregnant, is 0:14:23.605 --> 0:14:25.645 to smell bad and nobody wants to be around you. 0:14:28.525 --> 0:14:31.645 But towards the end of the Industrial Revolution, though, finally, 0:14:31.685 --> 0:14:35.845 in eighteen forty four, that good old good Year patented 0:14:35.885 --> 0:14:39.845 the volcanization of rubber. I like the tire people, Yeah, 0:14:39.925 --> 0:14:42.565 thanks for the tires, Thanks for the all the rubber 0:14:42.645 --> 0:14:44.805 things that are birth control related. 0:14:45.085 --> 0:14:45.365 Yeah. 0:14:45.405 --> 0:14:48.845 And then in eighteen forty six, a diaphragm was patented 0:14:48.925 --> 0:14:53.285 and called the wife's protector. So yeah, of course, through 0:14:53.365 --> 0:14:59.085 all this time, avoiding pregnancy also involved. But stuff masturbation, abstinence, 0:14:59.725 --> 0:15:03.765 and coitus interruptis basically pulling out uh yeah. 0:15:03.765 --> 0:15:09.765 And then eventually there is douche powders, positories, vaginal pessories which. 0:15:09.525 --> 0:15:12.005 Are like early iud's, and all of. 0:15:12.005 --> 0:15:16.045 Those came about and remained part of the home contraceptive conversation, 0:15:17.325 --> 0:15:19.645 and then we have you know, to this day, there's 0:15:19.685 --> 0:15:22.405 different things you can use, of course, but there is 0:15:22.445 --> 0:15:26.365 also still a lot of coitus interrupt us less dung though, 0:15:26.525 --> 0:15:27.125 I feel. 0:15:26.925 --> 0:15:30.125 Like overall, oh lot less dune. Yeah, there's other things 0:15:30.125 --> 0:15:30.485 you can do. 0:15:30.565 --> 0:15:35.325 For sure, safe at BET is to just not touch anyone. 0:15:35.725 --> 0:15:38.525 Oh yeah, right, I forgot about that. I forgot about 0:15:38.565 --> 0:15:39.165 that as an option. 0:15:39.445 --> 0:15:40.485 Yeah. Have you heard of this thing? 0:15:40.485 --> 0:15:44.445 It's called abstinence, And here on American filth we are 0:15:44.485 --> 0:15:45.845 teaching abstinence. 0:15:47.685 --> 0:15:50.125 I've never known obstinence, which. 0:15:49.925 --> 0:15:52.525 Is this Uh, Julie's gonna come back in after the break. 0:15:52.885 --> 0:15:54.885 But now we're going to learn a little bit about 0:15:54.885 --> 0:15:58.445 the trends of what was happening in the comstock era 0:15:58.565 --> 0:16:04.405 in terms of birth control. So when it comes to 0:16:04.485 --> 0:16:07.565 the US and the nineteenth century, between the eighteen thirties 0:16:07.565 --> 0:16:10.845 and eighteen seventies, there's actually a lot of information out 0:16:10.885 --> 0:16:14.765 there about different types of contraceptive devices. There's a lot 0:16:14.805 --> 0:16:17.525 of books that were published on the subject. There were 0:16:17.525 --> 0:16:21.005 traveling doctors and lecturers who would tell young women about 0:16:21.045 --> 0:16:24.285 different types of devices. In fact, there was so much 0:16:24.325 --> 0:16:27.285 information out there about birth control that in the eighteen 0:16:27.365 --> 0:16:30.525 sixties there was this New England doctor who said, there 0:16:30.565 --> 0:16:33.685 is scarcely a lady in New England, and probably it 0:16:33.765 --> 0:16:37.045 is so throughout the land who did not receive information 0:16:37.285 --> 0:16:43.805 on contraceptive instrumentalities. Of course, though in the nineteenth century, 0:16:43.845 --> 0:16:45.245 people weren't just being like. 0:16:45.325 --> 0:16:47.605 Ah, birth control, let's talk about it. 0:16:48.045 --> 0:16:51.925 Whenever people would try to advertise birth control or talk 0:16:51.965 --> 0:16:55.645 about it, they would use coded language. You know, they 0:16:55.645 --> 0:17:00.525 would say things like, oh, we're cheating nature or frustrating reproduction, 0:17:01.485 --> 0:17:03.165 or m did you hear about. 0:17:02.885 --> 0:17:05.405 These secrets not known to animals? 0:17:06.525 --> 0:17:09.325 And many of these products through birth control were actually 0:17:09.405 --> 0:17:13.805 advertised in magazines and newspapers with this kind of coded language, 0:17:14.925 --> 0:17:17.685 and often what would happen is women would see these ads, 0:17:17.845 --> 0:17:20.165 and then they would send a letter to the address 0:17:20.245 --> 0:17:23.565 provided and then they could receive their birth control in. 0:17:23.605 --> 0:17:24.365 The mail. 0:17:26.085 --> 0:17:29.605 And to kind of get how prevalent birth control was 0:17:29.645 --> 0:17:32.685 in the nineteenth century. From the beginning of the nineteenth 0:17:32.685 --> 0:17:36.605 century to the end, the birth rate among US born 0:17:36.685 --> 0:17:40.805 whites was almost cut in half. And this is where 0:17:40.845 --> 0:17:49.605 Comstock comes in. See in the late eighteen hundreds, in 0:17:49.605 --> 0:17:52.845 the wake of the Industrial Revolution, New York City was 0:17:52.885 --> 0:17:55.285 booming with industry and commerce. 0:17:55.925 --> 0:17:58.365 Folks from more rural areas were like, looks. 0:17:58.125 --> 0:17:59.845 Like, I got to move to the big city to 0:17:59.925 --> 0:18:04.325 make some money, and so NYC saw an insane influx 0:18:04.365 --> 0:18:10.725 of humans urbanization, industrialization, and out of this emerged what 0:18:10.765 --> 0:18:15.445 the New York Historical Society called an anonymous booming subculture 0:18:15.565 --> 0:18:22.525 of dealers, buyers, and sellers in obscene materials. And some 0:18:22.645 --> 0:18:28.445 of those obscene materials included ads and literature about birth control. 0:18:28.805 --> 0:18:30.925 And a lot of the prude elitists of New York 0:18:30.965 --> 0:18:34.125 City did not like that this information was out there, 0:18:34.885 --> 0:18:37.565 and in eighteen seventy three, the New York Society for 0:18:37.645 --> 0:18:44.325 the Suppression of Vice was founded by our guy, Anthony Comstock. Yes, 0:18:44.365 --> 0:18:47.765 he had previously worked for the YMCA. He was also 0:18:47.965 --> 0:18:52.325 a special agent and inspector for the United States Postal 0:18:52.405 --> 0:18:55.565 Service and was appalled when he saw that women were 0:18:55.605 --> 0:19:02.885 sending and receiving birth control merchandise through the mail. So 0:19:03.205 --> 0:19:06.525 Anthony Comstock founded the New York Societ for the Suppression 0:19:06.565 --> 0:19:09.685 of Vice. Its goal was to suppress the trade in 0:19:09.845 --> 0:19:15.885 and circulation of obscene literature, illustrations, advertisements, and articles of 0:19:16.005 --> 0:19:20.765 indecent and immoral use. He was like, anything dealing with 0:19:20.805 --> 0:19:25.525 birth control, contraceptives, abortion, all of that stuff is obscene. 0:19:25.645 --> 0:19:30.285 It's pornographic, and my Doom Patrol needs to go confiscate 0:19:30.445 --> 0:19:36.525 and destroy all of it. Then Comstock went before Congress 0:19:36.565 --> 0:19:39.365 and was like, guys, did you know that all this 0:19:39.445 --> 0:19:41.645 stuff is being mailed all over the place. We need 0:19:41.685 --> 0:19:42.845 to do something to stop it. 0:19:43.765 --> 0:19:44.485 Also, have you. 0:19:44.445 --> 0:19:47.525 Seen how the birth rates of white people are going down? 0:19:48.045 --> 0:19:50.125 We need to make sure people are having more babies. 0:19:50.125 --> 0:19:54.765 They don't need any contraception yuck. And Congress was like, ugh, 0:19:54.885 --> 0:19:57.885 you know what, fellow white dude, you're right. So they 0:19:57.925 --> 0:20:02.725 passed the Comstock Act, essentially making birth control illegal, and 0:20:02.805 --> 0:20:05.685 Congress put them in charge of enforcing these new law. 0:20:06.045 --> 0:20:09.165 So Comstock was like, hell, yeah, I can start arresting people. 0:20:12.085 --> 0:20:15.645 One person he arrested was author Ezra Haywood, who was 0:20:15.685 --> 0:20:19.125 a feminist and wrote a book called Cupid's Yokes. This 0:20:19.165 --> 0:20:21.285 book took a stand for women having their right to 0:20:21.285 --> 0:20:25.085 control their own bodies, and Comstock was like, that's obscenity. 0:20:26.005 --> 0:20:28.125 And Ezra had mailed a copy of his book to 0:20:28.125 --> 0:20:30.925 one of his friends, and then Kumstock went and arrested 0:20:30.965 --> 0:20:35.645 that guy too. At first, while Comstock was overjoyed with 0:20:35.685 --> 0:20:38.445 his success, most of the country was like, ugh, whatever, 0:20:39.045 --> 0:20:39.845 so just don't. 0:20:39.645 --> 0:20:41.005 Go to New York for birth control. 0:20:41.645 --> 0:20:45.125 But then twenty four other states enacted their own versions 0:20:45.165 --> 0:20:49.285 of these laws, and people were getting arrested left and right, 0:20:49.725 --> 0:20:54.005 facing fines and imprisonment. There are records of married couples 0:20:54.045 --> 0:20:57.325 facing punishment for using contraceptives. 0:20:56.805 --> 0:21:03.205 In their own home. In eighteen seventy eight. 0:21:03.125 --> 0:21:06.845 The National Liberal League and the National Defense Association presented 0:21:06.885 --> 0:21:10.285 Congress with a petition signed by over five hundred thousand 0:21:10.325 --> 0:21:13.525 people requesting a repeal of the Comstock laws. 0:21:15.085 --> 0:21:16.925 They were like, the law's anti. 0:21:16.645 --> 0:21:20.365 Obscenity provisions have been enforced to destroy the liberty of 0:21:20.485 --> 0:21:23.525 conscience and matters of religion against the freedom of the 0:21:23.565 --> 0:21:28.605 press into the great hurt of the learned professions. But 0:21:28.725 --> 0:21:33.085 Congress was like sorry, they were refused, and these laws 0:21:33.125 --> 0:21:38.005 went unchecked for a long ast time. The first successful 0:21:38.125 --> 0:21:41.525 change came in nineteen sixteen when Margaret Sanger was arrested 0:21:41.565 --> 0:21:45.245 for opening the first birth control clinic, and the law 0:21:45.325 --> 0:21:48.325 case I grew out of this situation resulted in the 0:21:48.405 --> 0:21:52.085 nineteen eighteen Crane Decision, which allowed women to use birth 0:21:52.125 --> 0:22:00.245 control for therapeutic purposes my favorite therapy not having a baby. 0:22:01.325 --> 0:22:03.165 After all that, Sanger didn't give up. 0:22:03.445 --> 0:22:06.445 She was like, hey, the Comstock laws are still really 0:22:06.485 --> 0:22:10.005 bad and super unethical. So then another amendment was made 0:22:10.005 --> 0:22:12.845 in nineteen thirty six that made it possible for doctors 0:22:12.845 --> 0:22:18.485 to distribute contraceptives across state lines. So thanks Margaret Sanger, 0:22:18.525 --> 0:22:20.365 except for the fact that she also. 0:22:20.245 --> 0:22:21.245 Loved eugen X. 0:22:26.925 --> 0:22:29.845 But as we were talking about earlier, it seems a 0:22:29.885 --> 0:22:33.485 thread throughout human history is that humans will try just 0:22:33.565 --> 0:22:39.485 about anything to prevent pregnancy, from crocodile dung to beaver piss, 0:22:39.605 --> 0:22:44.885 to weasel balls to fish condoms. So even though Comstock 0:22:45.005 --> 0:22:47.045 was like no, no, no, no, we shan't have any 0:22:47.085 --> 0:22:50.125 of this birth control mess, people were still like, hey, 0:22:50.605 --> 0:22:52.445 we got an idea for you of how you could 0:22:52.445 --> 0:22:58.565 prevent pregnancy. In one company circa nineteen nineteen saw an 0:22:58.605 --> 0:23:04.165