Мэри Коффин Уэр Деннетт: Әйел құқықтары мен бейбітшілік жолындағы белсендісі

American pacifist and women's rights advocate (1872–1947)
the British prioress

Mary Coffin Ware Dennett (April 4, 1872 – July 25, 1947) was an American women's rights activist, pacifist, homeopathic advocate, and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women's suffrage. She co founded the National Birth Control League in 1915 together with Jessie Ashley and Clara Gruening Stillman. She founded the Voluntary Parenthood League, served in the National American Women's Suffrage Association, co founded the Twilight Sleep Association, and wrote a famous pamphlet on sex education and birth control. A famous legal case against her eventually became the catalyst for overturning the Comstock laws.

Mary Coffin Ware Dennett was born April 4, 1872, in her hometown Worcester, Massachusetts. Dennett was the second child of four born to George and Vonie Ware. Dennett was a precocious, talkative, and assertive child, "scolding [her older brother] for striking her, often quoting the Bible." At age 10, her father died of cancer. Her mother supported the family by organizing European tours for young women. While her mother was absent on tours, Dennett and her siblings often lived with their Aunt Lucia Ames Mead, a prominent social reformer. Dennett enrolled in the School of Art and Design in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1891 and graduated with first honors, then took a teaching position at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia in 1894. She also had a position at Drexel Institute teaching design and decoration from 1894 to 1897.

Dennett married William Hartley Dennett, an architect, in 1900. They shared the ideal of the Arts and Crafts movement and soon bought a farmhouse in Framingham, Massachusetts. They founded an architectural and interior design firm. In addition to her work as an interior designer and guadamacile maker, Dennett continued to lecture and write about the Arts and Crafts movement. The Dennetts’ first child a son named Carlton was born in December 1900, after a difficult labor that nearly killed the mother. After another difficult labor, their second child a son named Appleton was born in 1903. However the baby was frail and died 3 weeks later. A third child was born in 1905, another boy named Devon, again after a difficult labor. Following this labor Dennett became ill and had to give up her professional work in order to recover. This time the doctor told the Dennetts that they should not have any more children, due to a laceration in her uterus that required corrective surgery. However her doctor did not give them any information on birth control. Later Dennett wrote of their lack of information on birth control:

In 1904, Dennett's husband William Hartley Dennett began work on a house for Dr. Heman Lincoln Chase and his wife Margaret. Hartley Dennett and Margaret Chase eventually developed an extremely close relationship, culminating in William Hartley Dennett moving out of his and Mary's house in 1909. Concerned about the effect that Hartley was having on their children, Dennett filed for divorce in 1912, at the time an unusual and scandalous action. The courts finalized Dennett's divorce and granted her full custody of her children in 1913. in the May 1926 issue of The American Mercury, and took a sympathetic interest in her later legal troubles:

There is, of course, nothing indecent in that pamphlet; on the contrary, it is notably prudent and clean. The author wrote it for the instruction of her own young sons, and its superiority to most other such literature was so apparent that it was reprinted at length in a medical journal, and circulated in great numbers by clergymen, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, social workers, and other such chemically pure persons. This went on for four and a half years. Then Mrs. Dennett, who is engaged in birth control propaganda, began annoying the wowsers of the U. S. Post Office by exposing their gross stupidity and disingenuousness in the enforcement of the Comstock Act, and they retorted by barring her pamphlet from the mails. No plainer case of the use of an idiotic law to punish an inconvenient critic could be imagined. Eventually a safe jury was empanelled by the prosecution “and Mrs. Dennett was quickly convicted, and Judge Burrows fined her $300. The jury was composed entirely of "middle aged family men". Six months later the Circuit Court of Appeals, consisting of [Thomas Walker?] Swan, Augustus Noble Hand and Chase, JJ, set aside the verdict, decided that the pamphlet was so obviously not obscene that ‘no case was made for submission to the jury,’ and ordered Mrs. Dennett released from her bond.”

When the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned her conviction in 1930, the Court set a legal precedent that took intent into account in the evaluation of obscenity. Dennett's trial was part of a series of rulings that culminated in the 1936 ruling in United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, which exempted birth control information and materials used by physicians from obscenity laws.

In this piece, Mary Dennett asks the reader to think about women and children under the US legal system. She argues that men have never had to justify why they have a right to vote. She wrote “The Real Point” around 1911 and 1915 advocating for equal voting rights. When women advocated for the right to vote, Dennett states, on the contrary, men are never asked “if all men want to vote, “if he thinks the laws need changing”, “if he will promise to better the laws”, “to give statistics showing whether men have previously used their votes to better the laws”, if he is sure he can still be a good father, and “to remain attractive” after voting. She wishes for everyone to “concentrate all our energies on the real point namely, that the qualifications for voting shall be made without regard to sex.”

Dennett wrote the pamphlet, “The Sex Side of Life'' in 1915. Majority of Dennett’s pamphlet was directed towards adolescents and its goal was to inform teenagers about safe sex and sex education. She described sex as passionate and emotional, which was extremely different from how sex was described at the time. Sex was represented solely for reproduction reasons and not for pleasure. She graphically described sex organs, sexual intercourse, and orgasms. She also wrote about birth control methods, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases. She advocated for masturbation to be more normalized. These thoughts were revolutionary, yet highly controversial for the time period. Dennett begins her pamphlet with sharing how much of the human experience is universal. She believed that everyone has similar thoughts and feelings, yet we are too embarrassed or uncomfortable to share with others. Her pamphlet helped people feel less alone. Dennett read other booklets pertaining to sex and sex education and didn’t feel comfortable with any of the information provided. This led her to write her own. Dennett shares her perspective of love and normalizes falling out of love. Dennett covered topics from masturbation, labor, and sexually transmitted diseases. Dennett also used detailed diagrams so her readers could easily visualize sex organs.

Dennett published “Birth Control Laws: Shall We Keep Them Change Them or Abolish Them” in 1926. Her main focus was to share her opinions and encourage a discussion concerning how necessary the laws pertaining to birth control are in the United States. She questioned if it would be best to modify the existing laws or completely change them. Her piece consists of explaining the current laws during the time, the laws at a federal level, congress’ role, physicians role, how society views these laws, and her opinions of how the future should look.

Criticism arose from this work. Many believed that her book was propaganda, aiming to spread misinformation. Frederick H. Hitchcock wrote in 1936, “This book is obviously propaganda for the removal of federal and state restrictions on the importation, manufacture and distribution of devices and materials wherewith to prevent conception and for the removal of restrictions on the dissemination of information concerning the prevention of conception.”

James E. Wilkinson was the prosecutor during Dennett’s trial for sending her pamphlet through the US mail. He blamed Dennett for bringing the younger generation “not only into the gutter, but below the gutter into the sewer.” After Dennett mentioned birth control, Wilkinson responded with, "What will happen to America if our national standards fall so low? Where will our soldiers come from in our hour of need? God help America if we haven't men to defend her in that hour.". On April 24 in 1929, the New York Times published an article titled, "Mrs. Dennett Guilty In Sex Booklet Case". It included several quotes by Wilkinson. In his closing statement he delivered, "This is pure and simple smut," as well as, "if I can stand between this women and the children of the land I will have acomplished something". Following the court case, several New York newspapers criticized the results. The World called the decision “deeply disturbing”. The Telegram reported the results as "inquisitional injustice”. Post wrote the verdict was “unfair and absurd by an overwhelming public sentiment”.