How the Christian Right Hijacked the Fight for Sex Ed in America’s Public Schools

How the Christian Right Hijacked the Fight for Sex Ed in America’s Public Schools

Formal school-based sex ed in the United States was born of the turn of the century social hygiene movement, a hybrid medical and moral project that hoped to eradicate social ills of the day. These ills included sex work and “social diseases” — a euphemism for STIs — which were sweeping the nation. Made up of Christian reformers and medical idealists, this reform movement was populated by individuals who shared both a goal — reducing rates of ST…