History of Sexuality Education

  • The National Education Association...

    The National Education Association...
    promotes sexuality education as a necessary part of a national education curriculum.
  • Publicly funded (for parents)

    The 4th International Congress on School Hygiene promotes publicly funded sexuality instruction for parents for the purpose of gaining support for school sexuality education.
  • Sex Ed conferences

    The U.S. Public Health Service conducts 50 regional conferences in sexuality education in high schools and colleges.
  • Birth Control

    Birth Control
    The American Medical Association officially recognizes birth control as an integral part of medical practice and education.
  • Sex Ed an "urgent need"

    Sexuality education is labeled as an "urgent need" in U.S. Public Health Service.
  • Oral contraceptives

    Oral contraceptives
    The Food and Drug Administration approves the sale of oral contraceptives.
  • SIECUS founded

    Dr. Mary Calderone founded the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). SIECUS promotes comprehensive sexuality education and educates in favor of individuals having the rights to make informed sexual decisions.
  • Women for Sex Ed

    Women’s rights activists became heavily involved in the fight for sex education in the schools.
  • Abstinence Education Funded

    Adolescent Family Life Act is passed, funding programs to promote sexual abstinence before marriage.
  • Reagan Administration

    Reagan Administration
    The Reagan Administration began pouring tax-payer money into abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. However, there was current research say that these programs were ineffective.
  • Sex Ed in 90% of schools

    Over 90 percent of all U.S. schools offer some sex education programming.
  • Religion deleted

    Religion deleted
    The U.S. Supreme Court demanded that federally funded sexuality education programs must delete direct references to religion.
  • School-based Clinics

    Over 500 school-based clinics had been opened in the US. This had increased from only 12 in 1984.
  • Obama and evidence based Sex Ed

    The Obama administration recognized that evidence-based sex
    education programs were effective in promoting
    sexual health among teenagers. Funds were transferred from the Community-based Abstinence Education Program
    and budgeted $114.5 million to support
    evidence-based sex education programs across the
    country.
  • Funds for comprehensive Sex Ed

    Through health care reform, Congress made available $75 million in federal funds for states to implement evidence-based comprehensive sex education.
  • Parents involved

    Parents involved
    A nationally representative study of parents of 10- to 18-
    year-olds, found that parents are talking to their kids
    about a wide range of sexuality-related topics,
    like relationships, values, and when sex should or should not take place.