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Episode 3.15. The Oneida Community: Progressive Utopia or Polyamorous Cult?

Episode 3.15. The Oneida Community: Progressive Utopia or Polyamorous Cult?

FromDirty Sexy History


Episode 3.15. The Oneida Community: Progressive Utopia or Polyamorous Cult?

FromDirty Sexy History

ratings:
Length:
47 minutes
Released:
Dec 13, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Between 1848 and 1879, the Oneida Community tried to build heaven in Upstate New York through the principles of communism, free love, and contraception. Under the guidance of charismatic preacher John Humphrey Noyes, the community practiced “complex marriage,” meaning everyone was allowed to sleep with everyone else. But there was a dark side to this seemingly progressive paradise—Noyes was a narcissist who exercised extreme control over the lives of his followers, experimenting with eugenics in his quest for immortality. In this special double episode, Jess covers Noyes’s early life and theology, the structure and sexual practices of the community, and its experiments in birth control and “stirpiculture.” You’ll never look at a spoon the same way again.
Released:
Dec 13, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (73)

Going beyond the sanitized and idealized to the dirty reality of human history with Jessica Cale. There's more to history than what you learned in high school, and we're going to skip to the good stuff together.