Lectures on Tap - "Naughty Victorians: Obscenity, Deviance, Desire"

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

📚 Lecture: "Naughty Victorians: Obscenity, Deviance, Desire"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Charley Binkow

Join us for a fascinating evening with Dr. Charley Binkow as we peel back the layers of the Victorian era, a time often thought of as prim and proper but also filled with surprising sexuality. While many viewed the 1800s as morally rigid, advances in technology, such as photography and vulcanized rubber, gave rise to mass-produced pornography and the first commercial sex toys—products that captivated many middle-class Victorians despite their public call for restraint.

In this engaging talk, Dr. Binkow will unpack the tension between burgeoning sexual expression and moral crusades led by reformers like Anthony Comstock, who fought against what they perceived as a wave of obscenity. As medical authorities began to label desire as deviant, the foundations of modern obscenity law emerged.

Together, we will explore both the intimate realities of Victorian America and the fierce societal backlash, prompting us to reconsider how obscenity is defined and regulated, and how our private desires continue to shape public history.

Dr. Charley Binkow obtained his PhD from Boston University in American History and currently teaches at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

7:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

7:55 PM – Host introduction

8:00 PM – Lecture begins

8:45 PM – Audience Q&A

9:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

9:30 PM – Wrap up.

Event Venue

Hollywood, Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States

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