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Sex And The Collegiate Experience

American society prior to the 20th century had considered the topic of sex (sexuality) as being ‘taboo' and not necessary to talk about, let alone taught in schools . In recent years however, sex-education has proved to be useful in providing information to the masses about disease prevention, child prevention, and other benefits. Elementary school programs that are designed to teach young adults about the perils of having sex or committing sexual acts with one another focus primarily on the consequences, and rarely on the benefits, in order to instill this ‘sex-negative' ideology favored by parents. Yet, every fall, parents drop their ‘young adults' off at colleges across the country where most are given a crash course early on in what sex is all about. Rather than the ‘taboo' topic it is commonly thought of as, the topic of sex in college is embraced rather than shied away from. Students, in recent years, have been given free reign to choose courses and topics that range from "Death and Sexuality" to "Sex in Politics". Almost everyone is having sex in college, most for the first time, so why can't they learn about the history or nature of sexuality? This paper will focus on why colleges across the nation are going about promoting ‘sex-positive' education. This paper is divided into three parts; the first will examine a few founding parents of ‘sex-education'. Followed by where the "sex-positive" idea came from. The last part will explain how/why it is good that colleges have moved to offer ‘sex-positive' courses in their curriculum. The conclusion of the paper will rebut opposition arguments to promoting ‘sex-positive' education and reiterate the point that knowledge truly is power.
Scholars often argue when exactly ‘sex-education' in America emerged, but agree it came about in the early 20th century. Pioneers such as Alfred Kinsey, Margaret Sanger, and Mary Calderone have been hailed over the years for promoting ‘sex-education' early on in American culture....