Sex education debates and the modest mother in Australia, 1890s to the 1930s

Abstract

Between the 1890s and the 1930s at least three Protestant women's groups in Australia waged a campaign in the community which confounded contemporary views that Christian women were insular on the one hand or unworldly on the other. Despite social codes of behaviour that discouraged the frank discussion of sex, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Young Women's Christian Association and the Mothers' Union campaigned for children to be taught about sex, reproduction and venereal disease in order to 'clean up' Australian society and to inculcate a healthier attitude towards sex. This article argues that in the 50 years studied, churchwomen both tried to change and were themselves significantly changed by modern attitudes towards sex.

The problem with protection: Or, why we need to move towards recognition and the sexual agency of children

“…Owing to the constraints of time and space, we are offering very truncated summaries of three very complex movements. For more on each see Hawkes (2007, 2008), Darby (2005), Warne (1999) and Powels (1987). 5.…”

“…Equating ignorance with parental neglect, Arthur painted a picture of despondent children addicted to self-pollution headed towards a degenerate future. Authur's pamphlets espoused the belief that the battle against solitary vice would be won by shaping the imagination and, as a result, the body and soul of the child (Egan and Hawkes 2007;Warne 1999).…”

“Innocent, not ignorant”: oral recall of sexual knowledge and conduct by early twentieth century north Queensland women

“…18 Supporters of sex reform brought ideas from political and medical backgrounds, from sociology and psychology and from female emancipation groups, with race issues often involved. In Australia and overseas their arguments that parental responsibility extended to informing children and young people about sexual matters met considerable social resistance.…”

Producing the Prurient through the Pedagogy of Purity: Childhood Sexuality and the Social Purity Movement

“…Social purity reformers were committed to the abolition of prostitution and pornography and helped to form organizations such as The Society for Friendless Girls in England which in 1885 boasted of 160 branches across the country (Bartley, 1999; Mahood, 1995). 7 In addition, purity campaigners also joined forces with progressive feminist organizations to lobby for an increase in the age of consent in Britain, Australia and the United States (Driscoll, 2006; Warne, 1999; Burnham, 1973). As their public support for the abolition of prostitution waned, purity reformers redirected their efforts to an area they believed would offer fertile ground for planting the seeds of change – children.…”

“…The teaching of proper child rearing practices in order to curb sexual vice and moral turpitude in the future became a central platform of purity reform (Darby, 2005; Warne, 1999; Porter and Hall, 1995; Pivar, 1973; Boyer, 1968). According to historian Richard Darby one of the “principal targets” of the purity movement was its campaign against masturbation in children (Darby, 2005: 270).…”