“Get Thee Behind Me, [Mrs.] Satan!”: Spiritualism, Radical Feminist Theology, Race, and Comstockery, 1830-1890
Location
Ponderosa Room D
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
Religion, Activism, Women's History, Nineteenth Century, Sexuality, Comstock Laws
Start Date
6-3-2026 2:30 PM
Event Sort Order
46
Abstract
While the mainstream suffrage movement received pushback from nineteenth century conservative reformers, this paper explores how the fringe "radical feminist theology" movement, developed and championed by Spiritualist Feminists, catalyzed a massive surge in conservative reform tactics during the 1870s. First, the paper defines and establishes “radical feminist theology” through analysis of Harriet Greene’s "The Radical Spiritualist" and Victoria Woodhull’s "Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly," two Spiritualist Feminist publications. Then, through joint analysis of legislative censorship through the Comstock Act of 1873, and white maternalist rhetoric used by women’s groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, I argue that the rise of the "social purity reform movement" was a direct response to the perceived threat of radicalism, utilizing divergent, gendered strategies to suppress it. By examining the religious and social circumstances that fostered the Spiritualist and Free Love movements, I demonstrate how white supremacist and maternalist attitudes permeated both white women’s radical activism and the subsequent conservative reaction. Ultimately, this paper posits that 19th-century social purity reformers established the rhetorical and legal frameworks for press censorship and Evangelical political influence that continue to shape conservative reform movements today.
“Get Thee Behind Me, [Mrs.] Satan!”: Spiritualism, Radical Feminist Theology, Race, and Comstockery, 1830-1890
Ponderosa Room D
While the mainstream suffrage movement received pushback from nineteenth century conservative reformers, this paper explores how the fringe "radical feminist theology" movement, developed and championed by Spiritualist Feminists, catalyzed a massive surge in conservative reform tactics during the 1870s. First, the paper defines and establishes “radical feminist theology” through analysis of Harriet Greene’s "The Radical Spiritualist" and Victoria Woodhull’s "Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly," two Spiritualist Feminist publications. Then, through joint analysis of legislative censorship through the Comstock Act of 1873, and white maternalist rhetoric used by women’s groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, I argue that the rise of the "social purity reform movement" was a direct response to the perceived threat of radicalism, utilizing divergent, gendered strategies to suppress it. By examining the religious and social circumstances that fostered the Spiritualist and Free Love movements, I demonstrate how white supremacist and maternalist attitudes permeated both white women’s radical activism and the subsequent conservative reaction. Ultimately, this paper posits that 19th-century social purity reformers established the rhetorical and legal frameworks for press censorship and Evangelical political influence that continue to shape conservative reform movements today.
Presenter Bio
Cecily Lawton is a first-year Ph.D. student in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln History Department. She studied at Wellesley College and James Madison University before graduating with her B.A. from UNL in 2025. Cecily’s research focuses on the legal and social history of abortion and healthcare activism in America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries .