Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-374) and index.
Contents:
The battle over birth control in the roaring twenties -- Censorship of literature and popular entertainments -- Segregation and race mixing in the early Civil Rights era -- The Kinsey revolution and challenges to female chastity -- Sex education in the sixties and the surging Religious Right -- The abortion war before and after Roe v. Wade -- Sexual harassment at century's end -- Same-sex marriage and LGBT rights in the new millennium.
Summary:
"From an esteemed scholar of American religion and sexuality, a sweeping account of the century of religious conflict that produced our culture wars Gay marriage, transgender rights, birth control--sex is at the heart of many of the most divisive political issues of our age. The origins of these conflicts, historian R. Marie Griffith argues, lie in sharp disagreements that emerged among American Christians a century ago. From the 1920s onward, a once-solid Christian consensus regarding gender roles and sexual morality began to crumble, as liberal Protestants sparred with fundamentalists and Catholics over questions of obscenity, sex education, and abortion. Both those who advocated for greater openness in sexual matters and those who resisted new sexual norms turned to politics to pursue their moral visions for the nation. Moral Combat is a history of how the Christian consensus on sex unraveled, and how this unraveling has made our political battles over sex so ferocious and so intractable"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.