HISTORY OF SEX EDUCATION
In 1913, Chicago Public Schools became one of the first districts in the United States to implement a formal sex education program. This program consisted of a series of physician hosted lectures called ‘personal purity’ talks. Some members of the community, primarily Catholic leaders, felt that these lectures were inappropriate. They argued that talking to young people about sex would plant ideas in their heads and pique their curiosity. “The Chicago Experiment” consequently failed, and the school board rescinded its permission for these purity talks to take place the following year (SIECUS, 2021b).
In the 1940s and 50s, Family Life Education (FLE) programs gained popularity. These programs were described as “part preparation for marriage, part an attempt to discourage premarital sex, and part training for ‘responsible parenting’” (SIECUS, 2021b, p. 22).
1913
1914-1918
1940s-1950s
1960s
Shortly after, during World War I, fear of STIs dramatically increased. The government provided a solution to this by creating disease prevention programs for soldiers, which heavily suggested that truly patriotic soldiers would choose abstinence for the good of their country (SIECUS, 2021b).
During the 1960s, sex education in schools began to gain even more widespread support. This was likely due in part to the creation of SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. In 1964, Dr. Mary Calderone founded the organization in order to bring accurate information about sex, sexuality, and sexual health to young people. SIECUS published study guides on sex education, masturbation, and homosexuality (Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., 2016; SIECUS, 2021b).
The sexual awakening of the 1960s and 70s ultimately led to sharp increases in sexual activity, pregnancy, abortion, and out-of-wedlock births in the 1980s. In 1984, almost 40% of 20-year-old women had at least one pregnancy while in their teens, 21% had at least one birth, and 7% had at least one abortion (Kenney & Orr, 1984). Because of these concerningly high rates of teen pregnancy, support for sex education reached its highest point yet (Kenney & Orr, 1984; Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., 2016). However, support for sex education found itself going in two opposite directions: comprehensive sex education and abstinence-only education.
1980s
1970s
Abstinence-only education gained significantly more support from lawmakers in the 1990s than the more comprehensive approach. This led to most schools teaching almost exclusively abstinence-only curriculum. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, conservative organizations created their own abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula. (Malone & Rodriguez, 2011; SIECUS, 2021b). These programs had considerable support from the federal government.
This period of sexual awakening seemed to continue on through the 1960s and 70s. By 1973, just under 50 percent of Americans were opposed to premarital sex, as opposed to the 70 percent that were opposed in 1969 (SIECUS, 2021b). However, even though sexual freedoms were becoming more commonly accepted and organizations were being created to bring more awareness to the subject of sexuality, there still wasn’t any consistency in terms of sex education implementation across the nation.
1990s
The Obama Administration attempted to dedicate funding to go beyond abstinence-only programs, with the launch of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) by the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), which was established by Section 2953 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. TPPI and PREP receive $114.5 million and $75 million in funding a year, respectively. However, regardless of these new programs, there is still no federal legislation that requires states to teach sex education (Malone & Rodriguez, 2011).
1996
2000s
2016
In 1996, in Title V Section 510 of the Social Security Act, the federal government started granting $50 million a year to state governments to carry out abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. In order to receive funding, schools are prohibited from instructing or promoting the use of contraceptive methods. California is the only state to have consistently opted out of the program since its formation (Constantine, Jerman, & Huang, 2007; Malone & Rodriguez, 2011).
U.S. Congress has continued to substantially fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and in 2016 funding was increased to $85 million per year (Hall, McDermott Sales, Komro, & Santelli, 2016). This budget was approved despite former President Barack Obama’s attempts to end the program after 10 years of opposition from medical and public health professionals, educators, and the human rights community.