Rescuing Sex from Prudery and Prurience: American Women's Use of Sex Education as an Antidote to Obscenity, 1925-1932

Abstract

The United States in the 1920s and 1930s witnessed dramatic shifts in legal and popular attitudes toward sexuality and obscenity. Female antiobscenity reformers were at the crux of these transformations--simultaneously holding back some changes and urging others forward. This article examines the antiobscenity work of Catheryne Cooke Gilman and the organization over which she presided, the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Women's Cooperative Alliance (WCA). It uses Gilman's fluctuating alliances with sex educator Mary Ware Dennett and social purity reformer Reverend William Sheafe Chase to demonstrate how, why, and to what effect the WCA used explicit sex education as a tool for divesting obscene amusements of their allure. Among other things, the author concludes that the WCA inadvertently helped liberate the commercial forms of sexual expression it fought against. By extending protection to graphic educational information, even while continuing to suppress sexually explicit commercial material, Gilman and the WCA helped to dismantle existing obscenity law in ways that fueled the growing free speech movement and eventually undermined the law's usefulness for fighting obscenity.

Essence of religion, culture and indigenous language in a unified sexuality education system

“…http://www.hts.org.za Open Access sex but instead it should equip, capacitate and empower individuals towards a safe and fulfilling passage to adulthood (Wheeler 2000;WHO 2010). This means that sexuality education aims to develop and enhance individuals' ability to make mindful, fulfilling, healthy and respectful choices regarding relationships, sexuality, religious, emotional and physical health.…”

“…There were three main themes identified as forming the basis of sexuality education (Figure 1). These were SEX, SEXUALITY and EDUCATION; and in pursuant of these themes a total of nine subthemes were generated and rationalised (see Tables 1, Table 2 and Box 1 (Carter 2001;Ellenwood 2006;Huber & Firmin 2014;Musolf 2003;Wheeler 2000;WHO 2010WHO , 2016. These sub-themes were all documented in an exponential non-discriminative sampling manner into a sexuality education conceptual model with nine sub-themes (Figure 1).…”

A History of Sex Education in the United States since 1900

“…A survey of young people at the end of 1920 revealed that many were engaging in sexual activity, including oral sex, but were not receiving any sex education (Wheeler, 2000), so an effort to quietly implement sex education continued during the intermediate era. From the 1920s through the 1950s, the goal of American public school sex education was to encourage premarital abstinence and faithfulness within marriage to better ensure a satisfying and happy marriage (Carter, 2001).…”

A Historical Analysis of Public School Sex Education in America Since 1900

“…A survey of young people at the end of 1920 revealed that many were engaging in sexual activity, including oral sex, but were not receiving any sex education (Wheeler, 2000), so an effort to quietly implement sex education continued during the intermediate era.…”