Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Sexual Education Across The United States: Are We Doing It Right?, Emily A. Horne

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the early 20^th century, students across the United States have been learning sexual education in public classrooms. Although American society has made many advancements and social changes since then, the curriculum of sexual education has remained stagnant. It continues to stress the concept of “social hygiene,” promoting white, heterosexual norms while demoralizing adolescent sexuality (McCarty-Caplan 2013). Since the 1980’s, the federal government has created three federally funded programs to promote abstinence-only sexual education. Although there are no federal laws or policies that dictate states or districts must provide sexual education, the programs have pressured the boards and districts …