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Chicago introduces 1st Ever Sex Education Course
Chicago superintendent Ella Flagg Young developed a “sex hygiene” course for public school students. Young was driven by Chicago’s high rate of prostitution and the spike in sexually transmitted diseases. After a year, local Catholic leaders were outraged and worked with conservative school-board members to undercut the "sex hygiene" program. Two years later, Young was removed as superintendent in a different scandal, and the courses were discontinued (Millstein 2). -
First Birth Control Clinic
Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. The clinic provides education on family planning,and counseling services. She is quoted as saying "the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective" (Latson). While Sanger promoted reproductive choice among women, she held eugenicist ideals. After 9 days, she is jailed on obscenity charges for promoting birth control and the clinic is closed. -
White House Conference on Child Welfare.
During the White House Conference on Child Welfare, the United States government supports sexuality education (Advocates for Youth). -
Manual on Sex Education in High Schools
The US Public Health Service released a manual with “suggestions of education related to sex” (National Conference of State Legislatures).
The manual took on a biased moralistic approach. STDs were commonly presented as a result of extramarital sex, and some courses still taught against masturbation. -
The American Medical Association and the National Education Association
The two organizations published five sexuality education pamphlets for schools. In the United States, there was an increase in courses on human sexuality (Advocates for Youth). -
Pushbacks in Sex Education
During the 1960s, there was backlash from conservatives in regards to liberal social movements.
In 1968, a religious group named Christian Crusade published a pamphlet entitled “Is The School House The Proper Place To Teach Raw Sex?” The head of the powerful John Birch Society, branded sex education a “filthy Communist plot.”
This backlash led to the restriction of sex education in many public schools by various state and local governments (Millstein 4). -
Restrictions in Sex Education
Twenty state legislatures vote to restrict or remove sexuality education in schools (Advocates for Youth). -
Abstinence Only Education
Adolescent Family Life Act is passed, funding programs to promote sexual abstinence until marriage.
In reality, there were still increasing teen pregnancy rates, both at the state and national level, and there was no proof of a reduction in sexual activity among youth (Millstein 4). -
Welfare Reform Act
Congress authorizes $250 million for abstinence-only education as part of the welfare reform act (Advocates for Youth). Despite statistics showing no proof of success, there was a focus on abstinence only education. -
The Family Life Education Act (FLEA)
Introduced by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Ca) and James Greenwood (R-Pa), the act is centered on a U.S. sexuality education policy that is research-based and supported by medical, public health, and education organizations and a majority of the American people (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States). -
Shift in Sex Education
Congress funds the Personal Responsibility Education Program, providing $75 million yearly for evidence-based, medically accurate, age-appropriate programs to educate adolescents about abstinence in addition to contraception in order to prevent unplanned teen pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS (Advocates for Youth). -
A Few Steps Back
The Trump administration has issued new rules for funding programs to prevent teenage pregnancy. These rules do not exclude programs about contraception but favor programs centered on abstinence and "sexual risk avoidance" without analyzing evidence of effectiveness (Belluck 1).
