Talk about Sex: The Battles over Sex Education in the United States

By Janice M. Irvine

Book Overview

In this lively book, Janice M. Irvine offers not only the first comprehensive history of the culture wars over sex education but also an important examination of the politics of sexual speech in the United States. Exploring the clash between professional sex education advocates on the one hand and the politicized Christian Right on the other, Irvine vividly demonstrates the crucial role that sexual speech plays in cultural politics. Examining a range of issues played out in living rooms and schools since the 1960s, she shows how a newly emerging Christian Right chose sex education as one of its first battlegrounds, then went on to dominate the public conversation on the subject. Talk about Sex is a rich and fascinating consideration of American sex education's strategic place in the long history of efforts to regulate sexual morality by controlling sexual speech.

Irvine's original argument shows how sex education served as a bridge issue between the Old Right and the New Right. Exploring the political uses of emotion as it relates to sexuality, Irvine demonstrates how this movement draws on the tenacious power of sexual shame and fear in order to galvanize opposition to sex education. This book skillfully demonstrates how--by framing sex education as radical, dangerous, and immoral--the Right has fostered a climate in which it is risky, as former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders found, to speak out in support of sexuality education.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520235037
• ISBN13: 9780520235038
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Yes, Talk About Sex

This is an excellent, well researched examination of sex education and the ways in which discourses of sex and sexuality have been simultaniously decried and utilized by the right. Irvine displays an extensive knowledge of sex education debates and provides an important historical accounting for the current state of affairs. The history presented in her book is fundamental for understanding sexuality, education, speech, and particularly, the interweaving of the three and its implication for battles over sex ed. Bravo. This is an important and timely book which deserves a wide audience.

Why do they say those awful things about Sex Ed?

This execellent and accesssible book explains how and why sex ed has been such a hot button issue. More importantly, it explains how the Christian Right has used sex ed to mobilize politically, how scare tactics are constructed, and why they are effective. It takes great courage to stand up for comprehensive sexuality education. This book will help to more deeply root proponents in thier own history and offers a clear description of the historic modus operandi of the opposition.It may be helpful to read this book in tandem with standard books about the religious right; notably Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, by Frederick Clarkson; and With God on Our Side, by William Martin.