Originally published at: How the Christian Right Hijacked the Fight for Sex Ed in America’s Public Schools - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Formal school-based sex ed in the United States was born of the turn of the century social hygiene movement, a hybrid medical and moral project that hoped to eradicate social ills of the day. These ills included sex work and “social diseases” — a euphemism for STIs — which were sweeping the nation. Made up…
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The war on facts and evidence has gone on for generations and will continue in perpetuity. There’s no reasoning with these fanatics. You can only point out how obsessed, creepy, and weird they are for needing to deny other people’s kids access to information and medical tools.
See also the union of sex predator men and purity freaks against teaching the concept of consent to young people. They want to keep young women ignorant and unsure of themselves and young men irresponsible for their actions.
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“Turn of the century” should refer to the “turn of the last century.” Or something to that effect.
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Historians of early Christianity long ago pointed out how the early Church pathologized sex. Those attitudes have only gotten more entrenched over the centuries.
One of my fave stories about medieval European history (the subject of my PhD) involved the confessional. Priests were taught to be careful about the direct questions they asked concerning sex–the Church’s admin didn’t want parishioners to get kinky new ideas!
There’s also a hilarious flow chart from a famous study of sex and intimacy, showing the conditions under which the Catholic church approved of people having sex. Things like “is it a feast day?” and “are you enjoying yourself?” showed up. In the end, at the bottom of the chart, there were no ideal conditions!
It’s weird that during the Reformations of the 16th century, the various Protestant denominations didn’t rebel against all these rigid rules for sex. They did allow clergy to marry and mostly did away with monks and nuns. But it’s the hard-line Prots now who are so virulently in favor of abstinence only.
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In related news James Dobson is dead at 89. Only the good die young.
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If no one has sex then they will know who the new Virgin Mary is and the baby shall be called Donald. 
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When I went to high school in NJ, religious fundies had control of the state legislature so we didn’t have sex ed as part of the curriculum.
In my public school, two male teachers with long-term tenure took it upon themselves to create a boys-only class where they delivered some informal semblance of sex ed.
I doubt if any kind of sex ed will prevent those unspeakable crimes committed by those with compulsions to do so.
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My late, Irish father in law would tell me Irish jokes.
One involved the young man who confessed to fornicating with women in the parish. The priest asked, “Was it Mary O’Toole? or Betty Murphy?” The young man replied, “I can’t break a confidence father”.
Later, the young man told his buddies, “I got two more names”.
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‘Cept kids also get (or have to have) instruction on how to drive—including hands-on, road experience!!
If we taught kids to drive like most get their sex ed, it’d consist of tossing them the car keys and saying, “have fun!”
“Sex is like driving—you need a license to do Both”….
I’d also be unduly interested in how many of the “abstinence only” backers were actually virgins THEMSELVES on their wedding nights. I vaguely remember hearing years ago that only about 5% of people (couples?) were—and I was certainly part of the other 95%, myself.
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Obsessed and creepy? Why would you think that?
Jessica Valenti criticized purity balls in her 2010 book The Purity Myth . She says that the balls’ central message is that women’s sexuality is controlled by men. She further argues that the balls sexualize young girls; the event is often promoted as a “date.”[5]
(Do I really need a snark tag for this?)
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Coincidentally, my wife is reading a book about Anthony Comstock.
Talk about creeps.
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About 15 yrs ago, we heard a local woman mention one of these “Purity Balls” held locally. The women sitting around and hearing this just rolled their eyes and suppressed smirks.
She said the girl dances with her dad after she makes her pledge.
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