Is the School House the Proper Place to Teach Raw Sex?

Is the School House the Proper Place to Teach Raw Sex? is a pamphlet written in 1968 by Gordon V. Drake and published by Billy James Hargis's Christian Crusade. It was a key document in the conservative fight against sex education in public schools, a cultural issue that contributed to the development of the New Right.[1][2]

The 40-page document, described by Time magazine as, "an angry little pamphlet,"[3] was originally distributed as part of a direct-mail fundraising campaign for the Christian Crusade, so that the organization could lobby against sex education in schools.[4] It became a source of unfounded anecdotes about the supposed horrors of sex education for groups such as Mothers Organized for Moral Stability.[1]

School House targeted the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and in particular its director Dr. Mary Calderone. It described her as the "SIECUS Sexpot",[5] and said that the group sought to "toss[...] God aside" and "to teach American youth a new sexual morality independent of church and state."[3][6] Besides arguing that sex education undermined Christian morality and promoted promiscuity, the document said it is part of a "giant Communist conspiracy."[7][8] It said, "[If] the new morality is affirmed, our children will become easy targets for Marxism and other amoral, nihilistic philosophies—as well as V.D.!"[4][5][9] The pamphlet also identified the National Education Association as an enemy.[10]

The pamphlet was the most widely circulated attack on sex education in the 1960s.[5] Drake estimated that it sold over 90,000 copies in the three months after it was published,[1] while Hargis claimed one million overall.[5] A more conservative estimate is 250,000 copies.[11]

References
  1. Moran, Jeffrey P. (2000). Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century. Harvard University Press. pp. 180–183.
  2. Moran, Jeffrey P. (June 2003). "Sex Education and the Rise of the New Right". Reviews in American History. 31 (2): 285. doi:10.1353/rah.2003.0037. JSTOR 30031770.
  3. "Sex in the Classroom". Time. July 25, 1969.
  4. Bruess, Clint E.; Greenberg, Jerrold S. (2008). Sexuality Education: Theory and Practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 38.
  5. Irvine, Janice M. (2004). Talk about Sex: The Battles over Sex Education in the United States. University of California Press. p. 51.
  6. Mass, Lawrence (1990). Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution: Homosexuality as behavior and identity. Psychology Press. pp. 68–69.
  7. Grummon, Donald L.; Barclay, Andrew M.; Hammond, Nancy K. (1971). Sexuality: a search for perspective. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. p. 20.
  8. Bruce, William. The American school board journal, Volume 157. National School Boards Association. p. 12.
  9. Cornblatt, Johannah (2009-10-28). "The Sin of Yielding to Impure Desire: a brief history of sex ed in America". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2011-01-05.
  10. Mahoney, E.R. (November 1979). "Sex Education in the Public Schools: A Discriminant Analysis of Characteristics of Pro and Anti Individuals". The Journal of Sex Research. 15 (4): 265. doi:10.1080/00224497909551050. JSTOR 3812387.
  11. "The Sins of Billy James". Time. February 16, 1976.
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