Early Sex Education

Before the 1900s there wasn't a lot written about sex education, but there were still social expectations. In American culture, the social norm was abstinence before marriage. An example of this expectation was in the 1778 Journals of the Continental Congress which expressed that any soldier having to be treated for a venereal disease would have to pay for their own treatment.

https://www.loveandfidelity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Huber-Published-Sex-Ed-article.pdf

Rev. John Todd's Student Manuel was one of the most popular religious texts that provided young people with sex education. At the time, sex education was mainly used to discourage masturbation. Dietary restrictions were also pushed with the belief that if followed, it would discourage young people from pleasuring themselves.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b264509&view=1up&seq=5

At this time, the National Education Society (NES) started to discuss implementing sex education courses in schools. After the NES started this discussion, people's expectations very slowly started to shift surrounding this topic.

https://www.loveandfidelity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Huber-Published-Sex-Ed-article.pdf

In 1914, several organizations came together and created the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA). ASHA was due to concern surrounding venereal diseases. Their main objective was to educate the public in hopes of preventing more people from being infected. This photo is one of ASHA's publications on social hygiene.

https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/health-nutrition/american-social-hygiene-association-history-and-a-forecast/
https://archive.org/details/socialhygiene03amerrich/page/n3/mode/2up

Many health campaigns against venereal diseases started during WW1. These campaigns mostly included posters featuring women and often encouraged the message that women were deliberately spreading these diseases.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/venereal-disease-posters-sti-world-war-ii-sex-shame

During the 1920s, schools began to implement sex education in schools. This was often done using film media that discouraged self-pleasure and premarital sexual activities. These sex education programs were inspired by the ones taught in the military.

https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/gift-of-life-1920#
https://www.newsweek.com/brief-history-sex-ed-america-81001

Conservative religious organizations like the Christian Crusade started to push back against sex education courses in schools. One way they protested was with this 40-page pamphlet that circulated in the late 1960s.

https://archive.org/details/isschoolhousepro00drak/page/2

During the AIDs epidemic, many groups pushed for a wider range of sex education to be taught in schools. Many conservative groups used this time to encourage abstinence-only courses to be implemented. This idea gained popularity and the government started to pour millions of dollars into funding such programs.

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/da/67/da67fd5d-631d-438a-85e8-a446d90fd1e3/20170209_sexed_d04_1.pdf