Chapter 12: The Comstock Act

Before we go any farther I highly recommend you read Wikipedia's article on the Comstock Act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comstock_laws. If you don't want to do that I'll give you my take on the law.

In a nutshell, communication of information by any person or persons to other persons about contraceptives was a punishable offense.

Informing females of methods to inhibit or prevent conception was against the law.

Providing contraceptive devices to males was against the law.

Informing prospective matrimonial couples of 'things of a prurient' nature was against the law.

The ability to prevent pregnancy "promoted promiscuity" and was "morally degrading."

Sex must be limited to matrimony and never performed for any other purpose than conception.

The law was tried in court many times ... some portions were declared unconstitutional, but THE LAW is still in effect.

I had hurt my baby. I made her bleed.

In 1960 I could whale the living tar out of her and generally get away with it as long as I didn't break any bones. Husbands routinely punished their wives and husband rape didn't exist.

Teenaged girls were seduced by the minute. Unless the age difference was extreme, the courts didn't get involved all that often, and when they did, lawyers by the score contended that she asked for it by flaunting her body or teasing the male.

The simplest solution was a wedding. If the real father was rich, sometimes the groom was paid by the family of the inseminator to marry the girl. Sometimes the girl seduced a fellow classmate and blamed it on him.

In the event that her "reputation" had preceded her there might be a trial.

There were always men to testify against her. Clothing of a "provocative nature" could always be found in her closet. To a seventy year old Judge, a Bra was clothing of a provocative nature. The courts often found that "good girls don't go riding around in cars with boys at night."

The courts always found that a teenaged boy seduced by an older female "benefited from the experience."

A girl that "took" was expelled from school, and shunned by her classmates. The boy responsible was regarded as a hero by his classmates and many a male get-together centered around what went where and how it felt. Guys went looking for the bad girl. The attitude was, "She's already knocked up. I want to try it on her." A bad girl was open season.

We were married, we jumped through the hoops of our era, and made it legal, but neither of us had a clue about how it works ... not really. It was illegal to tell us and mother told her she'd hate it, and that was all.

I knew I had made her bleed and that was the last thing I expected. Now I had a dilemma.

"Gentleman don't tell."

My wife is bleeding.

I sought to consult a Physician.

It's the middle of the night, the captain is probably asleep. I hot footed it up the stairs to the wheelhouse. I knocked. Bade enter, I did. Oh thank you God, My Uncle Al was chatting with the third officer over a cuppa.

"Hi, David. How's married life treating you?"

In a total rush I confessed I had made her bleed. Uncle Al tried manfully to keep from laughing, the rest of the watch lost it.

"Well, we know one thing for sure. She was a virgin when she married you," said Al. "There are not a lot of guys who were engaged as long as you two were who can say that."

What the hell, my life is an open book to my mothers' sisters?

"Doesn't anybody in the family have anything better to do than gossip about me and Wendy?" I asked Al.

"Nope, for 6 years you two have been held up as a shining example of how a boy should treat a girl. Your cousins hate you!"

That caused another round of laughter.

The helmsman, not taking his eyes off the compass, said, "This is him? The best boy in the world?"

Al just grinned, "Yup. Have you seen the beauty he married?"

"Not yet, but I'm looking forward to it."

"She's spectacular, you'll appreciate every inch."

"Hey, that's my wife you're talking about!" I growled. "Enough of this. She's bleeding. What should I do?"

"Unless it's buckets, she'll be fine. Sore, but fine. What did she think of it."

"It?" I asked. "Oh! IT! I dunno, we haven't got that far."

"You haven't done IT?" asked Al. "We could hear her up here. Her climax was amazing. If you made her cum like that and didn't do IT, what did you do?"