Featured Contributor
Related
Related Books
Reviews
Reviews
What constitutes obscenity is a contentious issue, and Wheeler makes it clear that historically, it has been dangerous ground for feminists... Her analysis is convincing.
Wheeler’s account of the anti-obscenity campaign illuminates the importance of gender to that history; she seamlessly explores the movement as it shifted from the local to the national level; and she meticulously recounts the day-to-day struggles women faced. Along the way, she draws on an impressive list of archival sources to reconstruct women’s involvement in the campaign, provides a detailed account of the victories and hardships women experienced as they attempted to shape the... anti-obscenity movement, and offers a thoughtful and well-argued addition to a growing number of studies about women activists and how their concerns for mothers and children shaped public policy.
Tells the complicated and compelling story of women's meteoric rise to prominence in competing branches of the anti-obscenity movement prior to and immediately following passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, and their arguably more rapid exit from the scene during the late 1920s and early 1930s... A superbly written book.
A welcome addition to the growing historiography of obscenity and censorship. In its solid research, Wheeler’s book is [also] an important addition to the historiography of grassroots struggles over free speech and other rights in twentieth-century America.
In this important book, Leigh Ann Wheeler examines a little-discussed corner of popular culture, women’s campaigns to regulate ‘obscenity’ in the late 1800[s] and early 1900s. Those interested in issues of obscenity and the development of the concept of free speech in the United States will find Wheeler’s work compelling.
Wheeler has uncovered a fascinating chapter in the story of women’s perennial attempts to protect children and vulnerable young women from the dangers of commercial vice. Her study considers several of these dangers, such as prostitution and burlesque shows, but focuses above all on the new medium of film.
Deftly illuminates the 'possibilities in our past' while addressing the complex struggles of women and citizens in more recent times.
The study gives a very good sense of the anti-obscenity reform activity and concern in the period under study.
This is a very good book about an important topic.
Wheeler's impressively researched study is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of anti-obscenity reform and women's activism in general.
A provocative study of debates about obscenity on the local level. Wheeler's book provides much-needed perspective on the late feminist 'porn wars,' and, finally, gives women activists on both sides of the debate their due.
Beautifully written and beautifully crafted. It makes a strikingly original argument: that in redefining the meaning of obscenity, women reformers legitimized sexual education. Rather than portraying early twentieth-century debates over obscenity as a part of a continuous battle between the forces of 'repression' and 'enlightenment,' Leigh Ann Wheeler identifies key moments in these early sex wars, skillfully elucidating the changing significance of gender. Placing her subject in the broadest possible context, she analyzes its legacy for the sex wars of the 1980s and beyond. In short, Against Obscenity achieves a rare balance: it manages to be scholarly, accessible—and relevant.
Against Obscenity is a significant study of women's anti-obscenity activism in America in the Progressive and New Deal years, offering an important look at female political engagement as it crossed the 1920 suffrage divide. Because regional leaders connected with national movements and moved onto a wider stage, the book is more than a study of a local crusade. With its lively writing and fresh material about anti-obscenity campaigns focused on movies, burlesque, and vaudeville, Against Obscenity will engage those interested in First Amendment issues, women, and sexuality.
An excellent book. Wheeler's nuanced and persuasive argument represents a major contribution to the history of sexuality and women's history. Carefully researched and well written, Against Obscenity avoids gender essentialism and balances women's individual and organizational campaigns with the contexts of national politics. Wheeler has a keen eye for important historical questions and she knows how to tell a good story.
Makes a definite contribution to an understudied aspect of American political history, namely the impact of woman suffrage on important issues in American political and social life. It makes clear not only why female anti-obscenity reformers failed but also how male politicians used divisions among post-suffrage women to limit women’s power. An excellent piece of research and conceptualization.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
272
ISBN
9780801886386
Illustration Description
14 halftones
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: Crossing the Great Divide: Women, Politics, and Anti-obscenity Reform
Chapter 1. " "Protect the Innocent!": Men, Women, and Anti-obscenity Reform, 1873 - 1911
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: Crossing the Great Divide: Women, Politics, and Anti-obscenity Reform
Chapter 1. " "Protect the Innocent!": Men, Women, and Anti-obscenity Reform, 1873 - 1911
Chapter 2. Dressing Elsie: Women's Theater Reform, 1912 - 1919
Chapter 3. "Censorship Does Not Protect": Women's Motion Picture Reform, 1919 - 1922
Chapter 4. "Woman vs. Woman": The Leading Ladies of Motion Picture Reform, 1923 - 1930
Chapter 5. "We Don't Want Our Boys and Girls in a Place of That Kind": Women's Burlesque Reform, 1925 - 1934
Chapter 6. "Thinking as a Woman and of Women": Sex Education, Obscenity's Antidote, 1925 - 1934
Chapter 7. "Sinful Girls Lead": Crises in Women's Motion Picture Reform, 1932 - 1934
Chapter 8. "'Catholic Action' is Blazing a Spectacular Trail!": The Collapse of Women's Anti-obscenity Leadership, 1934 - 1935
Conclusion: Anti-obscenity Reform and Women's History
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Notes on Sources
Index
