Table Of ContentSex Education
in the Eighties
THE CHALLENGE OF HEALTHY SEXUAL EVOLUTION
PERSPECTIVES IN SEXUALITY
Behavior, Research, and Therapy
Series Editor: RICHARD GREEN
Siale Universily of New York al Siony Brook
NEW DIRECTIONS IN SEX RESEARCH
Edited by EH A. Rubinstein, Richard Green, and Edward Brecher
PROGRESS IN SEXOLOGY
Edited by Robed Gemme and Connie ChrisHne Wheeler
HANDBOOK OF SEX THERAPY
Editedby Joseph LoPiccolo and Leslie LoPiccolo
THE PREVENTION OF SEXUAL DISORDERS: Issues and Approaches
Edited by C. Brandon Qualls, John P. Wineze, and David H. Barlow
IMPOTENCE: Physiological, Psychological, Surgical Diagnosis
and Treatment
Gorm Wagner and Richard Green
SEX EDUCA TION IN THE EIGHTIES: The Challenge of Healthy
Sexual Evolution
Edited by Loma Brown
Sex Education
in the Eighties
THE CHALLENGE OF HEALTHY SEXUAL EVOLUTION
Edited by
LORNABROWN
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Sex education in the eighties.
(Perspectives in sexuality)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Sex instruction. I. Brown, Loma. 11. Series. [DNLM: 1. Sex education. HQ 56 S518J
HQ56.S383 306.7'07 81-15738
ISBN-13:978-1-4613-3272-5 e-ISBN-13:978-1-4613-3270-1
001: 10.1007/978-1-4613-3270-1
© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1980
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this took may be reproduced, stored in a retri~val system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical. photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher
Dedication
This volume is dedicated to Mary Steichen Calderone, M.D., M.P.H., who
recently celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday. Ordinarily, that would mean
that an individual, already a decade overdue for retirement, is at least
going to slow down. But in the case of Mary Calderone, it means recog
nition of those things she has done so far in her life and those things which
she will do in the future to further the knowledge about and the study of
human sexuality. Mary Calderone' s achievements are far from finished.
In 1964, she left her position as Medical Director of Planned Parenthood
to cofound and head a new organization, the Sex Information and Edu
cation Council of the United States. Had this book been written then, it
could have been a pamphlet, for very few of the "helping professions"
were involved in sex education. In the first five years, Mary Calderone
stood up, almost alone, receiving the taunts of those people who believed
that the purpose of sex education was to demoralize youth. But with pa
tience, honesty, and the highest personal integrity, she continued to write
and speak out. And as she did so, professionals in a multitude of fields
throughout the world were awakened to the importance of sex education
for healthy human sexuality.
Each of the contributors to this book owes a special debt to Mary
Calderone. Each could, I am sure, tell stories about meeting Mary for the
first time, and the special influence she has had on his or her life and work.
The contributors to this book are a very small percentage of those who
could have written chapters, and thus only representative of the thousands
of professionals in the field who have been affected by Mary Calderone' s
commitment.
Her work is recognized throughout the world. Traveling as much as
100,000 miles a year, Mary Calderone speaks with millions of people,
v
vi DEDICATION
professionals and lay people alike. She has received numerous awards and
honorary degrees, most recently the 1980 Margaret Sanger Award and the
1980 Edward W. Browning Award for Outstanding Contribution in the
Prevention of Disease.
All of us associated with this book, which shows how many different
fields now have a sex education component, hope that it will stimulate
further work in education for human sexuality. As Mary Steichen Calde
rone would say, "There's still so much to do."
LORNA BROWN
Contributors
EUGENE A. BAKER, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist, Children's Village, Dobbs
Ferry, New York
ROBERT N. BUTLER, M.D. Director, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda,
Maryland
MARY S. CALDERONE, M.D., M.P.H. President, Sex Education and Infor
mation Council of the United States, New York, New York
DERYCK CALDERWOOD, Ed.D. Director, Human Sexuality Program, New
York University, New York, New York
MICHAEL A. CARRERA, Ed.D. Professor of Community Health Education,
School of Health Sdences, Hunter College, New York, New York
WILLIAM H. GENNE, The Reverend Director Emeritus, Commis si on on
Sexuality and Family Ministries, National Coundl of Churches, New
York, New York
HARVEY L. GOCHROS, D.S.W. Director, Sodal Work Institute for the Study
of Sex, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
SOL GORDON, Ph.D. Director, Institute for Family Research and Educa
tion, 760 Ostrom Avenue, Syracuse, New York
JANE M. JOHNSON Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 810 Sev
enth Avenue, New York, New York
vii
viü CONTRIBUTORS
WARREN R. JOHNSON, Ed. D. Department of Health Education, University
of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
HERANT A KATCHADOURlAN, M.D. Vice Provost and Dean of Under
graduate Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California
GARY F. KELLY Director, Student Development Center, Clarkson College,
Potsdam, New York
LESTER A KIRKENDALL, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Family Life, Oregon
State University, Corvallis, Oregon; Horne address: 12705 S.E. River
Road, Portland, Oregon
MYRNA I. LEWIS, AC.S.W. Counselor, 3815 Huntington Street N.W.,
Washington, D.C.
HAROLD I. LIEF, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DAVID R. MACE, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Family Sociology, Bowman
Gray School of Medicine, Winston-SaIem, North Carolina
FLOYD M. MARTINSON, Ph.D. Department of SocioIogy/AnthropoIogy,
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota
HARRlET F. PILPEL, LL.B. Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, 437 Madison Av
enue, New York, New York
LAURIE R. ROCKETT, LL.B. Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, 437 Madison Av
enue, New York, New York
Eu A. RUBINSTEIN, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, University of North
Carolina, Chapel HilI, North Carolina
MARY LEE TATUM Teacher, Human Sexuality, Falls Church Public SchooIs,
7124 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Virginia
Preface to an Introduction
The odd reader (here in England "odd" means occasional) may be interested
in how a book comes about.
Members of the SIECUS Board of Directors were planning a Festschrift
and dinner for Mary Calderone on the occasion of her 75th birthday. One
planning idea was to have a booklet, filled with brief essays from prominent
sex educators, distributed between the roast beef and the ice cream. My
reaction was that such "souvenirs" find their burial place in the same dusty
drawer as the program from the high school prom and ticket stubs from
South Pacific.
I suggested a more lasting, noticeable "monument," a "proper" (as the
English say) book which would draw contributions from both SIECUS and
non-SIECUS scholars. 1 was too clever to be trapped as editor (in a 1974
preface, I had written "I swore 1 wouldn't edit another book"). And so I
seduced Lorna Brown (into being editor). I contacted a few potential con
tributors, suggested a few others, convinced Leonard Pace at Plenum Press
that this was a worthwhile venture, and left the country. To my amaze
ment, six months after settling in Cambridge, England, the rough draft of
the book arrived along with areminder from Lorna that during the se
duction I had promised to write an Introduction.
And so, here it iso
AN INTRODUCTION
Sex education. Buzz words. A spectrum of reflex reactions. The great
Rorschach inkblot. The ear of the beholder responds focaUy to the pano
rama. Protagonists. Antagonists. For! Against!-What?
ix
x PREFACE TO AN INTRODUCTION
Signifying all things to all people can be a great asset for the politician,
but as subject for discussion it can be a nightmare. Such is the rub with
"sex education."
Sex is defined as "being male or female or hermaphrodite," and the
"function by whieh most animal and plant species are perpetuated as a
result of fusion of two nuclei from separate individuals."
Education is defined as "bringing up (of the young), systematic in
struction, development of character or mental powers," and "training."
So what is education about sex? Onto this inkblot we project our
greatest hopes and our worst fears.
Is sex "natural"? Natural is defined as "inborn, unconstrained, nor
mal." If natural, then should nature take its maturational course with the
individual proceeding without extemal influence? Is it necessary to impart
knowledge as required with "unnatural" behavior, such as performing
calcu1us?
Arguments abound in this volume against letting nature take its
course. But arguments falter when not supported by compelling evidence.
The reader will find some. But, other times, the only support is "common
sense," cousin to the more esoteric statistical term "face validity." (More
on this later.)
An ironie element becomes apparent with the question: Can anyone
avoid sex education? Who avoids being educated about what it means to
be a brother and not a sister, about the interactional style of mother and
father?
This volume illustrates the panorama of those simple words--sex ed
ucation. Obviously, those who want to see it as a unidimensional phe
nomenon should avoid this book and not be "educated" further.
The selective bias of choosing contributors to a book dedieated to the
foremost advocate of sex education in the United States yields an ideological
fervor that sweeps into some of this text. It is the mistake of many "liberals"
(and their adversaries) that mere enthusiasm for a cause shared by others
of like mind ("preaching to the converted") can substitute for facts with
whieh to convince skeptics. Perhaps a comparison with a distant relative
of sex education-pomography-may be illustrative.
There is an oddity in the prosecution of sextially explicit materials in
the United States with the intent of proving them obscene. The oddity
concems whieh party bears the burden of proof. Contrary to some other
countries (e.g., France), the accused in the United States is innocent until
proven guilty and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. Where rea
sonable doubt exists as to the defendant' s guilt, a verdict of not guilty is
called for. But, with pomography, the Supreme Court has ruled that the
prosecution need not introduce expert evidence that the material meets the
