The Stupidity of Us Humans
New York: Voluntary Parenthood League.
Undated, ca. 1920. 4 pp, ca. 6 x 8 inches, self wrappers. Two short tears mended with archival tape, one mild crease; very good. 4 copies located in OCLC.
Social reformer Mary Ware Dennett (1872-1947) founded the Voluntary Parenthood League in 1919. The organization's main goal was to change the Comstock Laws so information about birth control would not be deemed obscene and could legally be distributed by mail. In this pamphlet, Dennett argues that just as humans eat for pleasure as well as from necessity, and just as they chose stylish clothes rather than the simplest thing that will keep them warm, so there are "similar emotional, mental, moral, and spiritual values to be derived from this function [sexual relations]." Getting "the Birth Control question straightened out," she argues, "is the first imperative step.... It will open the way for all the rest. And presently it will be as natural to apply science and art to sex relations as it is now to the matters of food, clothes, and shelter."
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