Reproductive biology in the Oneida Community, 1848-1880
Wylie, B.
Bulletin of the Cleveland Medical Library. Cleveland Medical Library Association 19(1): 91-98
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0009-8833 PMID: 12336631 Document Number: 517254
The Oneida Community -- a communistic settlement that originated in 1848 and was located in central New York State -- made medical history in the areas of birth control, sexuality, and selective breeding. The perfectionist theology of the Community's leader, John Humphrey Noyes, held that the 2nd coming of Christ had already occurred, that true believers had already been "saved," and that he had been designated as an agent of God to proclaim "Heaven on Earth." This spiritual condition involved freedom from sin, universal love, community property, and total unselfishness. All members of the Community were in effect married to all other members, in that Heaven "they neither marry, nor are given in marriage." "Complex marriage" was the term used for this sexual relationship. Some method of birth control was essential as a corollary of complex marriage. Noyes introduced as his "invention" a principle which he termed "male continence," meaning that the man voluntarily avoided a sexual climax. Noyes published pamphlets on the subject of "male continence" and suggested methods for its achievement. From a practical perspective, the successful application of male continence required some special considerations. In the Community, women were accepted on a par with men and were free to either choose or refuse intercourse with any man, as long as there was no "special love" involved. 20 years following its founding, Noyes believed that the Community was economically ready to have children, and during the following ten years 58 children were born. 45 of these were the result of selective breeding.