Condom Nation: The U. S. Government's Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet
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This history of the U.S. Public Health Service's efforts to educate Americans about sex makes clear why federally funded sex education has been haphazard, ad hoc, and often ineffectual.Since launching its first sex ed program during World War I, the Public Health Service has dominated federal sex education efforts. Alexandra M. Lord draws on medical research, news reports, the expansive records of the Public Health Service, and interviews with former surgeons general to examine these efforts, from early initiatives through the administration of George W. Bush. Giving equal voice to many groups in America — middle class, working class, black, white, urban, rural, Christian and non-Christian, scientist and theologian — Lord explores how federal officials struggled to create sex education programs that balanced cultural and public health concerns. She details how the Public Health Service left an indelible mark on federally and privately funded sex education programs through partnerships and initiatives with community organizations, public schools, foundations, corporations, and religious groups. In the process, Lord explains how tensions among these organizations and local, state, and federal officials often exacerbated existing controversies about sexual behavior. She also discusses why the Public Health Service's promotional tactics sometimes inadvertently fueled public fears about the federal government's goals in promoting, or not promoting, sex education.This thoroughly documented and compelling history of the U.S. Public Health Service's involvement in sex education provides new insights into one of the most contested subjects in America. The Washington Post - Susan Jacoby …this lively historical account of the U.S. Public Health Service's earnest but ineffectual sex education efforts…is a sobering tale of the ways in which racial and religious biases, unmoored from scientific evidence, can derail a public mission that ought to be dedicated to improving the health of all citizens. Whether the lesson has been learned, or whether unreason will return in future government-funded attempts to teach a particular version of sexual morality, remains an open question.
1 In bed with the Fed 12 The people's war, 1918-1926 253 Battling the mad dog, 1927-1940 484 Lifting the shadow from the land, 1941-1945 715 A false sense of security, 1946-1959 936 Making love, not babies or disease, 1960-1980 1157 Telling it like it is, 1981-1988 1388 Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, 1989-2008 162Epilogue 187Notes 191Index 217
