History
According to Paul R. Abramson, the widespread availability of pornography during the American Civil War (1861–1865) gave rise to an anti-pornography movement, culminating in the passage of the Comstock Act in 1873, but which also dealt with birth control and abortion issues. The main support and active persecutor for the moral purposes of the Comstock laws was the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, lead by Comstock.
The law was invoked in 1933 to ban the distribution through the United States Postal Service of the nudist publication "The Nudist", even with the genitals airbrushed out of the photos. The matter finished up in the United States Supreme Court, where the AANR ultimately won the right to distribute materials through the mail. This victory paved the way for not only legitimate nudist magazines and materials but also some of the more seedy versions and, eventually, Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire.
Read more about this topic: Comstock Laws
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