Chapter four of Rodger Streitmatter's book Voices of Revolution: The Dissident Press in America examines a collection of prominent news outlets that emphasized the liberation of love between two individuals. Streitmatter recounted the history of the most influential publications of this genre during the Victorian age, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, The Word and Lucifer, the Light-Bearer. After reading about the rises, climaxes and falls of each publication in the chapter, a question popped into my head: Why was Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly heralded significantly more than The Word and Lucifer when all three publications were conceived? All three published content that was perceived to be quite scandalous at the time. Yet, the Weekly was put on a pedestal and The Word and Lucifer were vilified.
The main reason, I believe, is that there is a major distinction between prose of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin from Ezra and Angela Heywood and Moses Harman. Woodhull and Claflin wrote their articles with language that was astute and evocative of the true hardships Victorian women endured during that span. Whereas the Heywood's and Harman penned their parchment with discourse that was far more profane and provocative of the sexual nature of the Victorian populous. The Weekly prided itself on its exposé's of misconducts committed by men among (such as adultery) written in a more conservative manner, while The Word and Lucifer published editorials on sexual abuse with an explicit tongue. According to Streitmatter, both newspapers wrote using words such as "'rape,' 'genitals,' and 'penis,'" along with "'intercourse,' 'private organs,' and 'semen'" and "fuck" and "cock." Angel Heywood discussed and illustrated graphically the male sex organ, and the power it possessed in society.
And this is what led mainstream media at the time to admonish the raunchy work of the Heywood's and Harman, but adore Woodhull and Claflin's editorials, which read more clean to their eyes. The content being published and distributed by The Word and Lucifer was seen as lewd and unfit. The terminology was far too explicit and crude for Victorian society. Thus, mainstream newspapers scorned whatever was being printed by the Heywood's and Harman, even though the points they issued were just as valid as the one's issued by Woodhull and Claflin.
