N.B. Click pe imagini pentru marire!

Se spunea despre perioada victoriana  ca a vedea glezna unei femei putea da mai multi fiori erotici decat un san dezgolit…

Iar saptamanalul The Days’ Doings. An Illustrated and Amusing Record of Passing Events era plin de astfel de glezne, gineceuri si alte “spatii” la care barbatii nu aveau acces. Si tocmai acest lucru l-a facut sa devina unul dintre cele mai de succes magazine ilustrate la vremea sa.

In linistea camerei sale, atent aparata de valurile spumoase ale nestavilitelor pofte trupesti ce urlau dincolo de fereastra dublu-inchisa, Anthony Comstock - marele cruciat al luptei contra obscenitatii - scria in jurnalul sau:

At last, at last! Thank God!

Suntem in ianuarie 1873. La ce se putea oare referi? Sursa bucuriei lui nu era alta decat incarcerarea lui Frank Leslie, unul dintre cei mai importanti editori americani, sub verdictul de imoralitate si instigare la obscenitate. Asociatia Young Men’s Christian, pe care Comstock o conducea, obtinuse promulgarea unei legi ce acoperea

every form of printed material and, for the first time, authorized police search and seizure.

Si uite asa ajung sa fie arestate, printre altii, si surorile Victoria Woodhull si Tennessee Claflin, sustinatoare ale acestui jurnal, ambele fiind implicate in cele mai teribile scandaluri ale epocii

At last action is commenced against this terrible curse. Now for a mighty blow for the young.

Dincolo de aceasta

despite Comstock’s efforts and The Days’ Doings’ notoriety, the weekly has been mostly ignored by social and cultural historians of the Gilded Age (sublinierea Lanternativei). And, in contrast to its inspiration and more obstreperous (and successful) competitor, the National Police Gazette, for all its many illustrations it has not been exploited by filmmakers or anthologists (sublinierea Lanternativei) on the lookout for evocative, not to mention copyright-free, images depicting the theatrical, sporting, and criminal worlds.

“Modern methods of intoxication.—‘A hasheesh party’ in the City of New York— Young ladies ‘under the effect’ of a preparation of Indian hemp.” Wood engraving based on a sketch by Joseph B. Beale, The Days’ Doings, August 8, 1868, nr. 168.

Mai multe info desore acest jurnal, aici.

Muza

Am scociorat, cu ajutorul muzei, dupa mai multe info despre acest subiect. Mai jos aveti cateva materiale interesante:

Victoria Woodhull intr-o fotografie de epoca

Victoria Woodhull este, de altfel, si prima femeie care a candidat la alegerile prezidentiale din S.U.A. O personalitate vulcanica care a produs nu putine valuri la vremea sa.

  • Helen Lefkowitz, Victoria Woodhull, Anthony Comstock, and Conflict over Sex in the United States in the 1870’s, in The Journal of American History, Vol. 87, No. 2 (Sep., 2000), pp. 403-43.
  • Molly McGarry, Spectral Sexualities: Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism, Moral Panics, and the Making of U.S. Obscenity Law, in Journal of Women’s History, Volume 12, Number 2, Summer 2000, pp. 8-29.
  • Carol Groneman, Nymphomania. The Historical Construction of Female Sexuality, in Signs, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Winter, 1994), pp. 337-367 (acest articol este pe cat de trist, pe atat de distractiv).