Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century (Paperback)

by Jeffrey P. Moran (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Most people assume that adolescence has always been around, but according to Moran (history, Univ. of Kansas), the concept didn't exist until G. Stanley Hall published Adolescence in 1904. That two-volume work dealt with "the special situation and needs of young people who had reached puberty but were still too young to marry"--i.e., with sex education. Moran shows how Victorian principles that shaped sexual ideology were slowly eroded by sex-education advocates. Margaret Sanger's crusade for birth control and the social hygiene movement ran up against the freedom unleashed at the end of World War I. The Roaring Twenties brought a revolution in manners and morals, along with an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. The resulting Chamberlain-Kahn Act also helped sex education get its foot in the door of public schools. Moran describes the family-based moral teaching of the 1950s and the sexual revolution of the 1960s, ending with a critique of the former and of current methods of sex education. This study deepens our understanding of a hot topic and should be considered seriously by most larger collections.
-Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., Kansas
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Jeffrey Moran uses the history of "teaching sex" in America to completely recast our understandings of contemporary political struggles in sex education. Thoughtful and gracefully written, at once a clear-eyed history and a compelling piece of social criticism, Teaching Sex is a revelatory book.
--Beth Bailey, author of Sex in the Heartland

A timely historical overview on the politics of sexuality education...[and] a valuable resource full of fascinating information.
--Marjorie Heins (National Coalition Against Censorship Newsletter )

Jeffrey Moran provides an engrossing chronicle and thoughtful analysis of government-sanctioned programs designed for a captive audience of high school students...Since the Sixties, sex educators have been repeatedly thwarted by holier-than-thou reactionaries with political agendas, especially on themes such as contraceptives and abortion. But Moran also takes educators to task for not taking into account the interest of those they purport to be teaching. His book is a must read.
--Paul Engleman (Playboy )

Jeffrey P. Moran has written an informative and entertaining book with an accessible style of writing that displays a non-intrusive sense of humor. The book is not polemical, not for the most part argumentative, but rather it summarizes the way in which perceptions of adolescent sexuality and general social attitudes toward sex have changed through the last century, in particular the way adolescent sexuality has been seen as a problem to be met by some definite action on the part of society.
--James Tate (mentalhealth.net )

Well-researched and unfailingly intelligent, Teaching Sex exposes the ways in which sex education almost inevitably involves deep moral issues. An excellent book, and an important perspective on American culture in the twentieth century.
--Paula Fass, author of Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America

Jeffrey Moran's book, Teaching Sex, offers an impressively lucid and balanced history of sex education and related matters in twentieth century American life. It fills a large gap among studies of American cultural and social history.
--James T. Patterson, author of Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974

Jeffrey Moran has written a helpful and important book for understanding sexual perception and information aimed at adolescents in the 20th century. He has a rare ability to synthesize complex and disparate materials, and explores not only ideas about sex education, but also their implementation in cities and schools and the range of reactions that they occasioned. He is ever attuned to the shifting political contexts that change the way that adults understand youth and sexuality.
--Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Smith College

This book is a comprehensive treatment of an elusive history. It is a single resource which shows us the foibles of our predecessors and points the way to teaching sex in a manner which promotes health for adolescents and young adults. A must read.
--Dr. Drew Pinsky, of MTV's "Loveline"

This well-written book is an objective, excellently documented history of sex education in American public schools from the early 1900s to the present.
--R. W. Smith (Choice )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674009827
• ISBN-13: 978-0674009820
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #835,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Resource, February 15, 2001

By	Courtney L. Lewis "Sassy Librarian" (Kingston, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century (Hardcover)

Jeffery Moran has done an excellent job of charting the history of sex education in America with particular attention to 19th and early 20th century cultural barriers to frank discussion. His research was clearly exhaustive and I found the first two-thirds of the book to be worthwhile but wordy. The real gem of Moran's work is the last third of the book which deals with the 1950s to the present day. It is very easy to chart our contemporary situation and approach to this topic by reading the history of the last few decades in particular. Presenting the arguments of the pro and con sex education elements was very enlightening considering the ways in which the same arguments have been recycled again and again. Most revelatory was the numerous evidence Moran presents showing that sex education in its current form neither increases or decreases age at first sexual experience or other risk behaviors unless the individual student in particularly future oriented. A very worthwhile book and important for educators and parents.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must know information for sex educators, December 23, 2000

By	[e-mail] (Stockton, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century (Hardcover)

Review by David S. Hall, Ph.D.

The Author:

Jeffrey P. Moran is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Kansas. As a young historian, his research leading to this book should serve him well in the "publish or perish" academic environment. It is a comprehensive summary of a vast and complex subject.

The Contents:

Moran looks at the 20th century, wherein adolescence is invented by the renowned G. Stanley Hall, a psychologist and college president. Hall was 60 when his 1904 book "Adolescence" was published. It was the result of years of research and much creative interpretation. This was a time in the cultural development of the U.S. where the period between puberty and marriage was increasing and youth were becoming aware of their "separateness as a group from adult culture". Hall, a product of the Victorian era, built his ideas of adolescence on a solid foundation of 19th century morality, i.e. chastity, self-denial, and especially avoidance of "self-pollution".

The end of the 19th century also saw well over half of school age American children enrolled in public or private schools, thus their separation from the adult world was becoming more complete. While puberty was occurring earlier, marriage was occurring later, as late as 29-31 for college graduates. Chastity during this time of life was seen as the great evolutionary factor that led to a higher civilization. The racial and class superiority this proclaimed was not overlooked in this era of high immigration. Moran's description of this interpretation of Darwinism is enlightening. Broadly stated, "repression was the price that the race had to pay to retain its superiority."

In parallel to Hall's work, Dr. Prince Morrow published "Social Diseases and Marriage". This book, and Morrow's hard work, attempted to overcome the denial about, and unwillingness to speak about, venereal diseases. While many in that era believed that venereal diseases were the proper wages of sin (not unlike the AIDS crisis of the late 1980's) a movement toward social hygiene was growing to protect the innocent victims, the wives and children of the infected sinners. Along the way, scientists and educators joined forces to use the public education system to do what the family and church were failing to do, provide social hygiene education. This was not sex education, but fear based measures, suppression of sexual materials (Comstock, et al), and suppression of prostitution (Mann Act). The Victorian idea that a child's pure mind must not be contaminated with any ideas or visions of sex included all of life until marriage. The conspiracy of silence was strong.

The balance of the book documents the century long struggle between those who would provide information about sex and those who would protect the innocent child from moral corruption. Fear based and shame based "sex" education has a long history. We who fight the battles would do well to understand this background. We will see much more of it in the 21st century.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The history of lies and deceit, July 2, 2006

By	Alan D. Cranford (Carson City, NV USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Teaching Sex begins with the "invention of the adolescent" by G. Stanley Hall with the publication of his two-volume book in 1904. Jeffrey P. Moran covers the war between the many factions in the "sexual revolution" and the on-going struggle to educate children about sex. And to indoctrinate the child in "proper sexual conduct," as well.

My experience with formal sexual education began in 1969 at a rural Missouri sixth grade classroom. It continued until I graduated from high school, and then Marine Corps boot camp had a segment on venereal diseases. My formal "sex ed" training continues to this day with mandatory "sexual harassment training"--all of this education didn't meet my needs. Why?

Teaching Sex explains part of it--that "sex ed" is a compromise between several mutually hostile factions. Moran documents the lies and miss-statements of these factions.

Moran's conclusion: sexual education has been a failure. I have to agree. Read this book and get aquainted with the many different aspects of Teaching Sex.