Wait....a woman could go to prison for...

It is kind of hard to believe huh, I guess it must be based on truth somewhere sometime, I don't know, that's something so incredulous I'd be willing to bet money that no one would believe it today that they used to do that. Well the judge wasn't exactly honest to begin with, I would have took the money too, but in the heat of the moment and to make the statement that "you're wrong about me, I'm better then that" I can see refusing the money too.

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Yes, they could, although enforcement usually varied from place to place. Women like Kitty -- single, no living parents or siblings -- were the most common victims of these laws, as were single, widowed or abandoned mothers.

It's only been within the last 50 years or so that moralists and reformers have lost their stranglehold on US laws. Before that, living in the US was like living in an alternate universe.

There are way too many examples to list here. But if you're interested in a little outside reading on a similar subject, here's a 1921 article (downloadable links for Kindle or PDF) warning about the renewed calls for enforcing morality clauses like blue laws -- legally enforced idleness on Sundays, as called for in the bible -- in the wake of the passage of Prohibition: https://archive.org/details/jstor-1106383

And here's a book (also with downloadable links for Kindle or PDF) from the same year detailing the many blue laws whose enforcement moralists were demanding be enforced more rigidly: https://archive.org/details/yeoldenbluelaws00myergoog

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balalugosihouse says > ...spending the night with a man in the 1930s?

I can see why people would be shocked by those laws. Those detention centers would be chock full if those laws were still being enforced today. Maybe enforcing some of those laws wouldn't be a bad idea.

I'm kind of joking but I do understand the need for certain laws in society. Today we seem to think it's okay to do anything under the sun. What we seem to forget is there are consequences to our 'anything goes' view of life.

If we think back to the old west, it's easy to see how disorder, indecency, and lawlessness led to unlivable communities; places in which people wouldn't want to raise their children. People scream about high taxes, the poor, children going hungry, the lack of services or opportunities, and the national debt but no one wants to own any part of these problems.

Women sleeping around lead to a lot of children born out of wedlock. If the mother is unable to care for her child and herself, they become our responsibility and her child, having only one parent, is more likely to go without proper care and attention. Often this is how criminals are made. Again, it's all our problem. It's highly unlikely she will have only one child too.

Today the solution seems to be to just 'get rid' of the child before its born. What an idea! Why not encourage bad behavior that leads to even worse behavior We're all supposed to pretend its no different than a dentist pulling a bad tooth or cutting a hang nail but it's not like that at all. It's a life.

We say how 'crazy' it is that we once had laws that would send a girl away for a couple of years who was living a life of loose morals but some of us don't think anything about ending a life; stoop a beating heart, millions of them and no one is held accountable. Mothers, doctors, and everyone working in abortion clinics are involved in this industry of death. Is that okay? Doctors who are supposed to protect life can legally end; over and over and over again. Hopefully, the day will come when people will look back and say, I cannot believe they let that kind of stuff go on. What must those people have been thinking?


Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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