So as I continued flipping through the January 1989 issue of The Nickell, a tiny ad, no more than 1/16 of a page in size, caught my eye. It was mixed in with other similarly small ads for things such as skate sharpeners and cancer cures, only this one, instead of being quaint, was puzzling.

It offered to sell readers a “bold, brave book” about the “ethics of marriage,” but as I looked more closely, I wondered whether the fine print was a coded message for information about contraception.

After all, what else could have been meant by the term “controlled maternity”?

On the other hand, the book also claimed to teach about the “rights of the unborn child”—so perhaps the book took an anti-contraceptive stance.

Turns out I was wrong (sort of) about both suppositions.

For here’s what Wikipedia had to say about Alice B. Stockham and Karezza:

According to Alice Stockham, a 19th Century author, it takes from two weeks to a month for the body to recover from ejaculation …”Unless procreation is desired, let the final propagative orgasm be entirely avoided.” Stockham advocated that the ‘honeymoon period’ of a relationship could be maintained in perpetuity by limiting the frequency of ejaculations or preferably avoiding them entirely.

So the book did have something do to with birth control and ensuring all children were chosen, though not via any of the methods I would have guessed.

As you might expect, these views were controversial. In fact:

Dr. Alice Stockham was taken to court and forced to give up teaching the practice of Karezza in the United States of America. Like many other of the sex reformers, Stockham was arrested by Anthony Comstock.

Luckily, today you can obtain the 1903 second edition of Stockham’s book by clicking here. No need to risk arrest by the Anthony Comstocks of the world!

If the methods contained therein work for you, though … don’t feel obligated to let me know.