ABSTRACT
Named for nineteenth-century antiobscenity crusader Anthony Comstock, the Comstock Acts refer to a series of federal and state laws prohibiting the dissemination of obscene materials. Though modified over the years by statute and court decision, the antiobscenity laws inspired by Comstock and his followers remain on the books and continue to be enforced at the local, state, and federal level. In 1873, Comstock, accompanied by two other members of the committee and funded by wealthy New Yorkers, traveled to Washington to lobby for a tougher federal obscenity law free of the loopholes that had frustrated earlier enforcement efforts. Many saw Comstock as a puritanical busybody, hounding and entrapping his enemies. He was frequently ridiculed by the mainstream press and by intellectual and cultural elites angered by his refusal to discriminate between low-grade pornography and works of important literary and artistic merit. A variety of theories have been put forth to explain Comstock and the antiobscenity movement.
