Sex and Politics in the Gilded Age

Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York, Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy's book Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York (the hardcover edition appears to have been published as Sex Wars: A Novel of the Turbulent Post-Civil War Period, but from the reviews, it seems to be exactly the same book) is a historical novel that examines in great detail the sexual and political landscape of The United States (and particularly the Northeastern US) of the second half of the 19th century. The novel's cast of key characters includes such historical figures as Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Vistoria Woodhull and her sister Tennesee Clafin, Anthony Comstock, and Madame Restell (well-known NY abortionist of the mid-1900s).

As one might expect from a Marge Piercy book, it focuses on gender, sex and politics. Stylistically, it's not the greatest book I've ever read, but the historical detail and the perspectives on the lives of these characters and how the politics of sexuality (and in some cases, the sexuality of politics) both shaped and were shaped by their actions was fascinating. A further dimension of life in NY of the period is developed through the life of one of its fictional characters, Freydah - a working-class Jewish immigrant who supports herself and her growing family of adopted orphans by running a condom factory out of her kitchen while searching the bordellos of New York for her sister who has been kidnapped into sexual slavery. (As a counterbalance, several other characters include madams, mistresses and prostitutes who have chosen their line of work, even if they're not necessarily all thrilled with it - Piercy is committed to showing as many sides as possible of the sexual life of the time.)

I already knew a fair amount about Anthony, Cady Stanton, Woodhull and Clafin as historical figures, but it was very enjoyable to see a feminist's envisioning of their lives and relationships. As far as I can tell, the historical elements are well-researched and the fictional elements fit the facts as known, which is something that is important to me in a work of historical fiction.

But aside from the deeply engaging and moving story of Freydah - wholly fictional but emblematic of the actual immigrant experience - the most interesting and chilling portrait, I think, is that of Anthony Comstock - who at the end of the novel, his earlier foes retired from the field, is preparing to take on his next major target in Margaret Sanger. The picture Piercy paints for us of an ultra-religious, guilt-driven, sexually repressed advocate of censorship who seeks to limit the sexual and reproductive freedoms of all according to the oppressive dictates of a narrow and self-righteous morality, is sadly pertinent to the struggles that feminists increasingly face today in the era of alliances between neo-cons and the religious right.

I quite heartily recommend the book.