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Events in Sex Education
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Student's Manual is Published
The Reverend John Todd's highly popular 1835 Student's Manual encouraged young men to overcome the "secret vice" of masturbation because ejaculation decreased energy and productivity. -
The National Education Association first discussed sexual education in 1892.
- As Americans moved from farms—where children might politely observe the mating of the family livestock—to cities rife with temptation, public officials began to see a greater need for classroom instruction about the facts of life. The National Education Association first discussed the subject in 1892, passing a resolution that called for "moral education in the schools."
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Chicago became the first major city to implement sex ed for high schools.
In 1913, Chicago became the first major city to implement sex ed for high schools. The program didn't last long, though. The Catholic Church soon launched a campaign against the initiative, helping force Ella Flagg Young, the superintendent of schools, to resign. -
The American Hygiene Association is founded
The American Hygiene Association, founded in 1914 as part of the Progressive-era social purity movement, helped teach soldiers about sexual hygiene throughout the war. Instructors used a machine called the stereomotorgraph to show soldiers microscopic slides of syphilis and gonorrhea organisms, as well as symptoms of the diseases on the body of an actual soldier. -
Congress passed The Chamberlain-Kahn Act
It took rampant STDs during WWI to get the federal government involved in sex ed. In 1918, Congress passed The Chamberlain-Kahn Act, which allocated money to educate soldiers about syphilis and gonorrhea. During this time, Americans began to view sex ed as a public-health issue. -
"Sex Instruction through English Literature"
In 1920, an English teacher named Lucy S. Curtiss wrote an influential article called "Sex Instruction through English Literature" that encouraged teachers to draw on classical literature when explaining sex to students. -
American School Health Association launched a nationwide program in family life education.
In 1953, the American School Health Association launched a nationwide program in family life education. Two years later, the American Medical Association, in conjunction with the NEA, published five pamphlets that were commonly referred to as "the sex education series" for schools. -
SIECUS founded
In 1964, Mary Calderone, a physician who had been the medical director at Planned Parenthood, founded the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). -
Graduate programs for sex education
In 1968, The U.S. Office of Education gave New York University a grant to develop graduate programs for training sex-education teachers. -
A gain for sex education
By 1983, sexuality education was being taught within the context of more comprehensive family life education programs or human growth and development courses. Such an approach emphasized not only reproduction, but also the importance of self-esteem, responsibility, and decision making. The new courses covered not only contraception, but also topics such as family finances and parenting skills. -
U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report calling for comprehensive AIDS and sexuality education in public schools
In 1986, U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report calling for comprehensive AIDS and sexuality education in public schools, beginning as early as the third grade. "There is now no doubt that we need sex education in schools and that it [should] include information on heterosexual and homosexual relationships," Koop wrote in his report. "The need is critical and the price of neglect is high." -
23 states had passed mandates for sexuality education
By 1989, 23 states had passed mandates for sexuality education, an additional 23 states strongly encouraged sex education, 33 mandated AIDS education and 17 additional states recommended it. -
IECUS published “Sex Education 2000: A Call to Action,”
In June of 1989, SIECUS published “Sex Education 2000: A Call to Action,” which outlined 13 goals that would ensure that all children received comprehensive sexuality education by the year 2000. -
Surgeon general Jocelyn Elders was asked about promoting masturbation to prevent young people from engaging in riskier sexual behavior.
At the 1994 United Nations conference on AIDS, then surgeon general Jocelyn Elders was asked about promoting masturbation to prevent young people from engaging in riskier sexual behavior. "I think that it is a part of human sexuality," Elders replied. "And perhaps it should be taught." -
Special Projects of Regional and National Significance–Community-Based Abstinence Education created
In 2000, conservative lawmakers upset by what they saw as states’ dilution of the abstinence-until-marriage message (some states were using Title V funds for media campaigns, youth development, and after school programs that lawmakers felt were not sufficiently focused on abstinence), created an additional $20 million federal funding stream, the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance–Community-Based Abstinence Education. -
2011 COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION ACT PROPOSED
The 2011 Comprehensive Sexuality Education Act would once again allow trained sex education professionals to be invited into public schools and would require voluntary sex education courses to include medically accurate information on both abstinence and the benefits of contraception and STI prevention. The bill also addresses issues of internet safety from predators, as well as the unforeseen consequences of “sexting.”
