Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Margaret Grace Myers
Book Discussed: The Fight for Sex Ed: The Century-Long Battle Between Truth and Doctrine (Beacon Press, 2025)
Air Date: November 21, 2025

This episode explores the complex, century-long history of sex education debates in the United States, as unpacked in Margaret Grace Myers’s new book. Myers and the host delve into the origins of sex ed in America, the cycles of controversy, the influence of war and public health crises, the politicization of the topic (especially from the 1960s onward), and its present-day ramifications. The conversation emphasizes how the same foundational tensions—between "truth and doctrine"—recur across decades, fueling the ongoing battle over what young people should learn about sex.

Guest Introduction and Book Genesis

• [03:02] Margaret Grace Myers introduces herself:
  • Studied English and religion with a focus on contemporary Christianity, power, and sexual health.
  • Discovered early debates on sex ed through family history (great-grandparents as doctors in Baltimore).
  • Motivated by discovering repetitive questions throughout history: "How early is too early to talk about sex? How much information is too much? Who should teach it? Where?"
  • Found a gap in historical literature: “I thought, well, where's the book about this? And it didn't exist... I guess maybe I'm the one who has to write it.” [04:31]

Key Historical Phases & Insights

Early 20th Century Origins

• [05:27] Sex Ed in schools emerges in the early 1900s:

  • Triggered by industrialization and sky-high STI rates (e.g., "a full 77% of men in Baltimore had gonorrhea" - 1915).
  • Early reformers: doctors and Christian religious leaders.
  • Primary debates mirrored current ones: age appropriateness, home vs. school, and content scope.

• [07:26] First school-based efforts:

  • The American Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis (est. ~1906) initially focused outside schools.
  • By 1911-1912, consensus shifted to schools as the best venue.
  • Notable case: Ella Flagg Young in Chicago (1913) implemented "personal purity classes"—backed by medical and progressive reformers, but the outcry made them short-lived:
    “You can have all the best people lining up for why you should have it. And sometimes the controversy is just too much.” [10:17]

Impact of World War I

• [10:47] The military as a catalyst:

  • The U.S. contracted the American Social Hygiene Association to educate servicemen.
  • WWI forced recognition that STIs were a widespread public health crisis, not just a "moral failing" affecting "bad" people.

• Key Tension:

  • Social Hygiene Association advocated for abstinence as the only moral solution.

  • Military had a pragmatic goal: combat readiness, leading eventually to consideration of medical prophylactics.

  • Memorable quote:
    “It was very difficult to kind of connect those two dots... abstinence until marriage was still the...morally good [thing] and needed to be maintained. So there were all these very fine lines...” [14:15]

• [16:52] Funding and scaling up:

  • Chamberlain-Kahn Act (1918) formalized federal funding for venereal disease education and created structures that began involving schools.

World War II and Aftermath

• [19:01] Lessons learned (and not):

  • Military initially claimed WWI approach “worked,” but evidence suggested otherwise (U.S. didn’t distribute condoms in WWI, unlike Britain by war's end).
  • By WWII: shift to practical measures—condoms, prophylactic kits—reflecting realism over doctrine.
  • Data shattered the myth that STIs were limited to sex workers; “regular women” also affected, broadening the scope of sex ed’s necessity. [21:10]
    • “They were sort of shocked to discover, oh, it’s not sex workers, it’s quote unquote, regular women. And they realized, oh, this education needs to go so much further than we thought it did.” [21:59]

• [22:25] Postwar sex ed expands:

  • Rise of dedicated sex ed coordinators in schools.
  • STIs rarely addressed head-on; instead, focus shifted to "proper way to date and get married"—an indirect prevention method.

• Controversy Pattern:

  • Initial unanimous local support could be derailed by a few vocal outsiders, spiraling into wider outcry and reversal—“one of the more frustrating types of controversies.” [24:20]

From Local to National Controversy: The 1960s Onward

• [25:39] A seismic shift:

  • Before the 1960s, opposition mainly came from American Catholics who wanted sex ed taught at home.
  • The rise of the religious (Christian) right in the 1960s mobilized national opposition, using powerful media strategies.
  • “Before abortion was the issue, sex ed was the issue.” [27:12]
    • Sex ed became an ideological cornerstone for the right; the formation of SECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) provided a target/emblem.

• [28:54] Effects in the 1970s–1980s:

  • The right framed “sex ed” in schools as radical and permissive (“hippie, free love”).
  • In reality, abstinence had always been the main message.
  • Broader spectrum emerged:
    • Comprehensive sex ed (contraception, clinics, etc.) to abstinence-only models with zero info on contraception.
    • Massive regional disparity:
      “You could be learning completely different things and there could be zero overlap.” [33:11]

Persistence of Abstinence and Present-Day Context

• [33:52] Research vs. Policy Reality:

  • Robust evidence shows abstinence-only ed does not reduce negative outcomes (pregnancy, STIs).
  • Policy lags evidence:
    • States and even districts retain local control, resulting in a patchwork of requirements—some counterfactual, some still homophobic and heteronormative.

• Notable quote:
  “I wish I could say that it affected it more, but it really hasn't, unfortunately...” [33:55]

• Contemporary impact:

  • U.S. continues to have some of the highest teen pregnancy and STI rates in the industrialized world; sex ed is a key, but not sole, variable.

Why the Debate Persists

• [35:36] Cultural underpinnings:
  • Myers points to a pervasive “conspiracy of silence” about sex (citing Prince Morrow, early reformer).
  • There remains an American obsession with abstinence, even as cultural representations of sex are everywhere.
  • “I think there’s still this narrative in a lot of places that...we expect that people won’t have sex or won’t talk about or admit that they have sex until they get married, despite the fact that…sex is a huge part of media, books, movies, everything we do.” [35:37]
• Reflection: Knowing the history is part of breaking the silence, even if the future remains uncertain.

Closing and Future Directions

• [37:22] Myers’s next steps:
  • No new book yet, now a stronger advocate for comprehensive sex ed:
    “I have definitely become more and more of an advocate for comprehensive sex ed in the United States. I think it is just so important, and I had no idea about how important it was until I started writing this book.”

Notable Quotes by Segment

• [04:31] “Where’s the book about this? And it didn’t exist... I guess maybe I'm the one who has to write it.” – Margaret Grace Myers
• [10:17] “Sometimes the controversy is just too much.”
• [14:15] “Very fine lines that needed to be upheld during this time.”
• [21:59] “They realized, oh, this education needs to go so much further than we thought it did.”
• [27:12] “Before abortion was the issue, sex ed was the issue.”
• [33:11] “You could be learning completely different things and there could be zero overlap.”
• [33:55] “I wish I could say that it affected it more, but it really hasn't, unfortunately.”
• [35:37] “There’s still this narrative…we expect that people won’t have sex or won’t talk about or admit that they have sex until they get married, despite the fact that…sex is a huge part of media.”
• [37:38] “I have definitely become more and more of an advocate for comprehensive sex ed in the United States…”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Guest background & book genesis: [03:02–05:07]
• Origins of sex ed and early controversies: [05:27–10:24]
• Sex ed and World Wars: [10:47–22:09]
• Post-WWII expansion: [22:25–25:10]
• The 1960s: rise of the religious right: [25:39–28:28]
• Spectrum of modern sex ed and patchwork outcomes: [28:54–33:20]
• Evidence vs. policy: [33:52–34:55]
• Why sex ed remains contentious: [35:36–36:53]
• Guest’s current outlook and advocacy: [37:22–37:43]

Conclusion

This episode provides an in-depth, lively, and revealing journey through the history of American sex education, demonstrating the deep roots of today's debates and the enduring tension between evidence, public health, and cultural doctrine. Myers’s historical lens reveals that the "fight for sex ed" has never truly been settled and is likely to remain contentious until broader social narratives—especially those around abstinence and silence—are confronted head-on.