A Brief History of Sex Ed

by Miriam Brossman, M.D.

Once upon a time, sex education was a simple biology lesson.

Students learned the facts of life, and with those facts, that sex is part of something bigger, called marriage. Teachers explained this was the moral and healthy way to live.

In those days, people understood that men and women are different, and that their union is unique, unlike any other relationship.

It went without saying that boys grew up to become men, and girls, women.

There were only two sexually transmitted diseases, and having one was a serious matter.

Certain behaviors were not normal; individuals who practiced them needed help, and a child's innocence was precious.

Things have changed.

Now we have comprehensive sexuality education. It includes discussion of identity, gender, reproductive rights, and discrimination.

Children learn they're sexual from birth, and that the proper time for sexual activity is when they decide they're ready.

They're taught they have a right to pleasure, birth control, and abortion.

The terms husband and wife aren't used, the union of man and woman is one of several options, and morality? Well, that's judging, and judging is not allowed.

You won't find much biology in sexuality education, but there's voluminous information on the varieties of sexual expression, the pros and cons of different contraceptives and abortions, and the harm of gender stereotypes.

Gender itself is a complicated matter. A boy might turn into a man, a woman, or something else. A girl might feel she was born in the wrong body, and want her breasts removed. This is all normal, children learn.

There are over two dozen sexually transmitted diseases, and infection with one of these "lovebugs" is considered by some to be a part of growing up.

A doctor declares on YouTube, "Expect to have HPV once you become sexually intimate. All of us get it."

And childhood innocence?…forget it! Material created for children make most adults uncomfortable. On websites recommended to students, nothing is taboo — sadomasochism, polyamory, and what were once called "deviant" behaviors…they're all good.

When I first discovered this, I was astonished. What do these bizarre behaviors have to do with health, I wondered? How can responsible adults allow this? How can they fund this?

When I first discovered this, I was astonished. What do these bizarre behaviors have to do with health, I wondered?

As a physician and a parent, it really bothered me. I wanted to understand: Where did this come from? How did we reach this madness?

So I looked at the history of sex ed, and I wrote a book called You're Teaching My Child WHAT?

This is what I discovered.

Modern sex ed began in the sixties. It was based on Alfred Kinsey's model of human sexuality. Thanks to the brilliant and courageous work of Dr Judith Reisman, we now know that Kinsey was both a fraud, and a deeply disturbed individual.

For Kinsey, it was anything goes when it came to sexuality, and I mean anything. He believed, for example, that pedophiles were misunderstood, and their punishments unjust.

"Sexuality is not an appetite to be curbed", Kinsey insisted. He taught that, and he lived it.

His official biography documents the beliefs on which he based his work, and his personal life: The "human animal" is pansexual. Traditional morality is destructive. Sexuality is not an appetite to be curbed.

When I say that Kinsey was a deeply disturbed individual, it fails to capture the level of his psychopathology.

I've been a psychiatrist for thirty years, and trust me, I've met some very strange people. I am not easily shocked.

But when I began to read Kinsey's official biography ... What can I tell you? He was — please excuse the technical jargon — a real mental case.

Kinsey was afflicted at his core. He was a depraved human being, and his emotional illness expressed itself through his sexuality. He was consumed by a grotesque, debilitating, obsession with a wide range of abnormal behaviors — I'll spare you the details, but I doubt very much that in all the 62 years of Kinsey's miserable life he knew even one day of what we in this room would consider healthy sexuality.

Alfred Kinsey had a dream. He would prove to the world — and himself — that his lifestyle was normal. Average. Typical.

It was society that was at fault, with its religions, moral codes, and restrictions. Society made people feel guilty for following their natural urges, and that was unhealthy.

Kinsey's dream was to free people from those destructive institutions — to free the "human animal".

He did thousands of interviews, crunched the numbers, and concluded that most people practiced forbidden sexual behaviors: the average mom and dad were living a double life, just like he was.

His conclusions were widely questioned by leading scientists, but the criticism didn't seem to matter. The popular press accepted Kinsey's reports and his books were best-sellers. A revolution was spawned and western culture transformed.

The problem is, his research was fundamentally flawed. His samples were too small and the demography was badly skewed. He excluded some populations and focused on others — most notably, imprisoned felons. His subjects were preselected, since he relied on volunteers for his data.

The whole nefarious scheme has been exposed in a number of books and videos by Dr Judith Reisman. I urge you to check out her work at drjudithreisman.org for yourself, if you've got a strong stomach.

Kinsey died in 1956. This was a time in America that, thanks to antibiotics, venereal diseases were being obliterated. With one shot, syphilis and gonorrhea were cured. It was believed this was the end of STDs, the end of all infections.

Can you imagine?

The 1960 winner of the Nobel prize in medicine said "we are seeing the virtual elimination of infectious diseases".

Also in 1960, birth control pills became widely available. With STDs easily cured, and pregnancy preventable, the only obstacles to Kinsey's anything-goes model of sexuality was Judeo-Christian morality.

It was in this context that in 1964 Dr Mary Calderone founded SIECUS (sexuality information and education council of the US).

This is the group behind the sexuality education guidelines published by UNESCO, aggressively promoted to nations all over the world…likely the curricula in your countries are based on SIECUS guidelines.

Dr Calderone created SIECUS with seed money provided by Hugh Hefner.

Like Kinsey, she was on a crusade to change society. Sex education has too much negativity, she insisted, too much focus on unwanted pregnancy and diseases. The real problem, she insisted, following Kinsey, was that society is puritanical and repressed.

There were too many no's in sex ed. The approach of SIECUS, Dr Calderone promised, would be based on yesses. Proper sex ed would teach children that from the day they're born they are sexual beings, and that the expression of their sexuality is positive, natural, and healthy.

She told parents,

"Children are sexual and think sexual thoughts and do sexual things….parents must accept and honor their child's erotic potential."

The real problem, she insisted, following Kinsey, was that society is puritanical and repressed.

and

"Professionals who study children have recently affirmed the strong sexuality of the newborn."

What did it mean, exactly, to be open and positive, and to replace the no's of sex education with yesses?

What did it mean to "break from traditional views"?

It meant more than premarital and extra-marital sex…much more. Modern sex ed was about breaking boundaries. There were officials within SIECUS who were so radical they argued publicly for relaxing the taboos against adult/child sexuality, even incest.

Wardell Pomeroy was a disciple of Kinsey's who served as president of SIECUS. He argued, "It is time to admit that incest need not be a perversion or a symptom of mental illness."

TIME magazine described Pomeroy along with John Money as part of the "pro-incest lobby".

The SIECUS president wrote a book, Boys & Sex, for grades six and up. Here's a sample:

"...our sexual behavior...is like that of other animals...There is essentially nothing that humans do sexually that is abnormal."

Calderone provided a blurb for the book jacket:

"As I read your manuscript, I kept saying to myself, 'At last it is being said...'"

The last person I want to tell you about is Dr John Money.

In 1955, he introduced the radical concept that maleness and femaleness is a feeling, separate from anatomy and chromosomes.

He was convinced we are born without gender, then conditioned by society to identify either male or female.

Dr Money was a prominent psychologist; he's well respected to this day. But he was on the same page as Kinsey and the others.

He described pedophilia as "a love affair between an age-discrepant couple." Dr Money was also part of the incest lobby: "For a child to have a sexual experience with a relative," he wrote, "was not necessarily a problem." Like Kinsey, Money had deep emotional wounds. His identity as a man was troubled, and he molested young boys.

What's so astonishing is these men, these very disturbed men, using fraudulent data and theories that have been discredited, succeeded in transforming much of society. Today's sexuality education is based on their teachings.

Once I understood who the founders were — Kinsey, Calderone, Pomeroy, Money, and others — I understood how we got to today's "comprehensive sexuality education." I knew how we reached today's madness.

It came from disturbed individuals with dangerous ideas — radical activists who wanted to create a society that would not only accept their pathology, it would celebrate it!

These men were pedophiles. It was in their interest to see children as miniature adults who enjoyed sexual contact, and had the right to consent to it, without other adults, or the law, interfering.

Why would they value childhood innocence? They didn't believe children were innocent to begin with.

They also thought that restricting sex to between husband and wife was unnatural and destructive.

They weren't fighting disease, they were fighting ancient taboos; they were fighting biblical morality.

Bottom line: Sexuality Ed began as a social movement, and it remains a social movement. Its goal is for students to be open to just about any form of sexual expression. Sex ed is not about preventing disease, it's about sexual freedom, or better — sexual license.

Its about changing society, one child at a time.

They weren't fighting disease, they were fighting ancient taboos; they were fighting biblical morality.

You don't have to be a physician to understand the dangers of this ideology. All you need is common sense.

I no longer ask where did the madness come from, I know where it came from. What I ask, what we all must ask, is: how does it continue unchecked for fifty years? How do groups like SIECUS remain so powerful and well funded?

Where's the accountability?

All responsible adults have an obligation to fight the promotion of sexual license to young people. For sure, it's an uphill battle; sometimes it appears enormous, like David fighting Goliath.

But I am here to tell you that we have a secret weapon, like David's sling. The secret weapon is 21st century science: biological truths about the body's design, and how the mind is wired to respond to intimate behavior.

The fundamental premises if sexuality education — the radical theories of Kinsey, Pomeroy, Money and others — are easily debunked with 21st century science.

Yes, the battle is uphill. Yes, at times it seems enormous, like David fighting the giant Goliath. But think a moment…I don't need to remind you, do I?

Who won that battle?

Acknowledgement

Based on a talk presented at the 7th World Congress of Families in Sydney, May 2013.

The Author

Miriam Grossman, M.D., is a board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. She writes and speaks to parents, students, educators, and health professionals internationally on the dangers of political correctness in her profession. She is the author of You're Teaching My Child What?: A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Education How They Harm Your Child and Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student. Her website is here.

Copyright © 2013 Miriam Grossman, M.D.

This item 11386 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org