Moral Panics, Then and Now

Orange County, CA was ahead of the curve rolling out modern sex education in mid-1960s public schools. As the culture war over sex ed pushed conservative moms to the emerging religious right, a plucky young Village Voice journalist headed to Anaheim to interview key figures on both sides of the debate. Published in 1970, Oh! Sex Education! delves into the nitty gritty of school board fights as a loud minority of religious parents and community members (some part of the John Birch Society, nearly all Billy Graham enthusiasts) hilariously smear the new Family Life and Sex Education program as “Communist-inspired brainwashing.” Author Mary Breasted directs her snark at everyone, but her sarcasm is at its best when aimed at the most zealous of the Antis, warriors in the “life-and-death struggle for the preservation of Christendom.” It’s easy to laugh at the over-the-top panic around discussing masturbation in school, but Oh! Sex Education! also made a part of me strangely sympathetic to the parents aware of their kids moving away from them into a new cultural era. Some on the pro-sex ed side, who lost this particular battle, predicted that it was the last gasp of religious fundamentalists. If only they had been right. —Anne Rumberger