Introduction

Sex Education and Reproduction Information

“The flowers, the birds, and the bees”: Proverbial for inadequate sex education.

Our public policies are beginning to take the separation of sex and reproduction into account. A good example is the official handling of sexual knowledge. Most traditional sex education was never more than reproduction information. When teachers talked to their students about the so-called facts of life, they rarely went beyond a discussion of how babies are conceived, and they almost never explained how conceptions can be avoided. Most people simply assumed that the spread of such knowledge would lead to general immorality. Today, however, there is a growing recognition that it may be immoral to deny young people this knowledge. Indeed, the threat of overpopulation has forced many governments in various parts of the world to reverse their moral positions and to propagate the separation of sex and reproduction for all of their citizens. In most countries, there are now public and private agencies which distribute contraception information in books, films, pamphlets, advertisements, and through personal counseling. At the same time, an increasing number of men and women demand full control over their own reproductive lives without any interference from society.