Heaven on Earth

John Humphrey Noyes 1830 pioneered in feminism, adult continuing education, birth control, eugenics, group therapy, organized extramarital sex, and even pantsuits for women. In the belief that the Second Coming had already happened and that heaven on earth was therefore possible among those whose souls were pure he founded a pair of communal societies and conducted America's most radical experiments in human relations ever.

Noyes's communes in Putney, Vermont, and Oneida, New York, practiced "complex marriage," in which members of a spiritual community were permitted to have sex with each other—provided they were spiritually "perfect," unmotivated by lust, and (in the men's cases) withheld their ejaculations. Women's dress was considered impractical and vain, so community seamstresses designed knee-length dresses with matching trousers underneath.

While controversial to outsiders, the Oneida community became successful at manufacturing animal traps and diversified into a variety of products until 1880, when communal property was converted into a jointstock company, Oneida Community Ltd. Its present-day successor, Oneida Ltd., has assets of $196 million.

Oneida women designed the pantsuit.