Logo des 49. Historikertags 2012 Ressourcen und Konflikte

49. Deutscher Historikertag 2012: Ressourcen - Konflikte

"I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught": American Sex Education 1950-1970

Referent/in: Norbert Finzsch (Köln)

Abstract:
In 1994, Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was invited to speak at a UN conference on HIV/AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in risk-prone forms of sexual activity, and she replied in the affirmative, her remark caused great controversy and resulted in Elders losing the support of the White House. Elders was fired by President Bill Clinton in December 1994. This episode circumscribes the problems created by discussions of public sex education still today. Even in 1994 under a presidency that was labeled "liberal", it was obviously impossible to say something controversial about sex education and stay in public office. Public school sex education started in the early sixties in places like Anaheim, CA, Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI and Washington DC, but pretty much stayed dormant well into the mid-sixties in most American cities. Then it developed into one of the most debated public concerns during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This attitudinal change has been attributed to the cultural revolution of the late sixties and the end of conservative educational policies. Following Michel Foucault's observation on the discursification of sexuality, however, one could also argue that public sex education was part of a gigantic machinery that created sexual knowledge/power as part of an emerging bio-power that also affected the bodies of the youth. The paper will debate policy decisions and educational texts that were directed at the young.

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