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The Fight for Sex Ed

The Century-Long Battle Between Truth and Doctrine

Author Margaret Grace Myers
Ebook (EPUB)
Beacon Press
On sale Aug 12, 2025 | 288 Pages | 9780807008058
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The first comprehensive trade history of sex ed in American schools—and an impassioned call to reform sex ed into a powerful tool for reproductive justice and social equality

The U.S. has some of the highest rates of STIs and teen pregnancies in the industrialized world. A comprehensive sex education curriculum—which teaches facts on contraception, prophylactics, consent, and STIs—has been available since the 90s. Yet the majority of states require that sex education stress abstinence, and 22 states do not require sex ed in public schools at all.

In The Fight for Sex Ed, writer, advocate, and historian Margaret Myers shows us how we got here. While the earliest calls for sex ed came from a coalition of religious leaders and doctors at the turn of the century who sought to control the prevalence of STIs, the advent of antibiotics and modern condoms meant that abstinence was no longer good public health policy. The religious right, however, continued to frame it as such, using its impressive machinery to replace scientific facts with conservative Christian values.

Because sex ed is not mandated at the federal level, these battles have played out locally throughout the decades: through rigged school boards, administrative oustings, court cases, unjust firings, scare tactics, and threats. Myers also shows how the religious right has worked to narrow the discourse around sex ed, often dictating the terms of debate almost entirely.

What we teach young people has serious ramifications for reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, and public health. Sex education lies at the intersection of these hugely important cultural forces, yet it has been largely invisible. This book illuminates its potential—and its power.
“Journalist Myers debuts with a comprehensive and propulsive overview of the history of sex education . . . the result is not just an admiring look at generations of dedicated advocacy but a strong call for changes to how the truth is reported in America.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A comprehensive yet accessible volume that is invaluable for contextualizing the history of sex education in the United States.”
—Library Journal

“This meticulously researched book, written with passion and wit, illuminates a history that is more vital than ever before.”
—Emma Straub, author of This Time Tomorrow

“Myers has delivered an urgent, necessary, beautiful gift of a book at a moment in which we find ourselves desperate to devour it and to take its education with us into the fight for our lives and communities.”
—Hannah Matthews, author of You or Someone You Love: Reflections from an Abortion Doula

“A must-read for educators, parents, and anyone interested in the cultural forces that shape sexual health . . . The Fight for Sex Ed reveals how far we’ve come, and yet how very far we’ve left to go.”
—Jennifer A. Vencill, PhD, ABPP, CST, and coauthor of Desire: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating Libido Differences in Relationships

“Margaret Myers uses careful research and crystal-clear prose to trace the endless loop of politics and denial that sex education in the United States has been stuck in for generations.”
—Chelsea Conaboy, author of Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood

“A definitive history that treads lightly while delivering a punch.”
—Stephanie Gorton, author of The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America

“An essential read for those who care about truth, justice, and the well-being of our youth.”
—Laura Pappano, author of School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Education

“Let’s talk about sex, baby! Through gripping stories and sharp analysis, Myers highlights the activists fighting for truth, autonomy, and equity.”
—Mira Ptacin, author of The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna
Margaret Grace Myers is a writer, researcher, educator, and former bookseller based in Maine. Her writing has appeared in The Cut, Lady Science, and the Gotham Gazette, among other publications. She holds a BA from Skidmore College, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College.
Margaret Grace Myers View titles by Margaret Grace Myers
Preface: Then and Now

CHAPTER 1
Dr. Prince Morrow and the Birth of Sexual Health Advocacy in America

CHAPTER 2
Ella Flagg Young and the First Sex Ed Lectures in American Public Schools

CHAPTER 3
Fit to Fight: Syphilis and WWI

CHAPTER 4
Thomas Parran and “The Next Great Plague to Go”

CHAPTER 5
Ellsworth Buck’s Drive to Educate New York City

CHAPTER 6
World War II

CHAPTER 7
The Birth and Boycott of the Sex Ed Film

CHAPTER 8
Sex Ed and Family Life Education in the 1950s

CHAPTER 9
The First North American Conference on Church and Family

CHAPTER 10
The Birth of SIECUS

CHAPTER 11
The Religious Right Comes for SIECUS

CHAPTER 12
The New Battles of the 1970s

CHAPTER 13
A Decade of Federal Action

CHAPTER 14
Curricula Wars

CHAPTER 15
AIDS

CHAPTER 16
The Rise of Comprehensive Sex Ed

CHAPTER 17
The A-H Definition

CHAPTER 18
Trump, Biden, and Today

AFTERWORD
The Future of Sex Ed

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About

The first comprehensive trade history of sex ed in American schools—and an impassioned call to reform sex ed into a powerful tool for reproductive justice and social equality

The U.S. has some of the highest rates of STIs and teen pregnancies in the industrialized world. A comprehensive sex education curriculum—which teaches facts on contraception, prophylactics, consent, and STIs—has been available since the 90s. Yet the majority of states require that sex education stress abstinence, and 22 states do not require sex ed in public schools at all.

In The Fight for Sex Ed, writer, advocate, and historian Margaret Myers shows us how we got here. While the earliest calls for sex ed came from a coalition of religious leaders and doctors at the turn of the century who sought to control the prevalence of STIs, the advent of antibiotics and modern condoms meant that abstinence was no longer good public health policy. The religious right, however, continued to frame it as such, using its impressive machinery to replace scientific facts with conservative Christian values.

Because sex ed is not mandated at the federal level, these battles have played out locally throughout the decades: through rigged school boards, administrative oustings, court cases, unjust firings, scare tactics, and threats. Myers also shows how the religious right has worked to narrow the discourse around sex ed, often dictating the terms of debate almost entirely.

What we teach young people has serious ramifications for reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, and public health. Sex education lies at the intersection of these hugely important cultural forces, yet it has been largely invisible. This book illuminates its potential—and its power.

Reviews

“Journalist Myers debuts with a comprehensive and propulsive overview of the history of sex education . . . the result is not just an admiring look at generations of dedicated advocacy but a strong call for changes to how the truth is reported in America.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A comprehensive yet accessible volume that is invaluable for contextualizing the history of sex education in the United States.”
—Library Journal

“This meticulously researched book, written with passion and wit, illuminates a history that is more vital than ever before.”
—Emma Straub, author of This Time Tomorrow

“Myers has delivered an urgent, necessary, beautiful gift of a book at a moment in which we find ourselves desperate to devour it and to take its education with us into the fight for our lives and communities.”
—Hannah Matthews, author of You or Someone You Love: Reflections from an Abortion Doula

“A must-read for educators, parents, and anyone interested in the cultural forces that shape sexual health . . . The Fight for Sex Ed reveals how far we’ve come, and yet how very far we’ve left to go.”
—Jennifer A. Vencill, PhD, ABPP, CST, and coauthor of Desire: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating Libido Differences in Relationships

“Margaret Myers uses careful research and crystal-clear prose to trace the endless loop of politics and denial that sex education in the United States has been stuck in for generations.”
—Chelsea Conaboy, author of Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood

“A definitive history that treads lightly while delivering a punch.”
—Stephanie Gorton, author of The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America

“An essential read for those who care about truth, justice, and the well-being of our youth.”
—Laura Pappano, author of School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Education

“Let’s talk about sex, baby! Through gripping stories and sharp analysis, Myers highlights the activists fighting for truth, autonomy, and equity.”
—Mira Ptacin, author of The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna

Author

Margaret Grace Myers is a writer, researcher, educator, and former bookseller based in Maine. Her writing has appeared in The Cut, Lady Science, and the Gotham Gazette, among other publications. She holds a BA from Skidmore College, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College.
Margaret Grace Myers View titles by Margaret Grace Myers

Table of Contents

Preface: Then and Now

CHAPTER 1
Dr. Prince Morrow and the Birth of Sexual Health Advocacy in America

CHAPTER 2
Ella Flagg Young and the First Sex Ed Lectures in American Public Schools

CHAPTER 3
Fit to Fight: Syphilis and WWI

CHAPTER 4
Thomas Parran and “The Next Great Plague to Go”

CHAPTER 5
Ellsworth Buck’s Drive to Educate New York City

CHAPTER 6
World War II

CHAPTER 7
The Birth and Boycott of the Sex Ed Film

CHAPTER 8
Sex Ed and Family Life Education in the 1950s

CHAPTER 9
The First North American Conference on Church and Family

CHAPTER 10
The Birth of SIECUS

CHAPTER 11
The Religious Right Comes for SIECUS

CHAPTER 12
The New Battles of the 1970s

CHAPTER 13
A Decade of Federal Action

CHAPTER 14
Curricula Wars

CHAPTER 15
AIDS

CHAPTER 16
The Rise of Comprehensive Sex Ed

CHAPTER 17
The A-H Definition

CHAPTER 18
Trump, Biden, and Today

AFTERWORD
The Future of Sex Ed

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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