Description
Book SynopsisToo Hot to Handle is the first truly international history of sex education. As Jonathan Zimmerman shows, the controversial subject began in the West and spread steadily around the world over the past century. As people crossed borders, however, they joined hands to block sex education from most of their classrooms. Examining key players who suppor
Trade Review"Using extensive research backed by an impressive notes section, Zimmerman (Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century, 2009, etc.) untangles the complex history of how and why sex education was first introduced as a specific subject to be taught in schools and its subsequent rise and fall as a teachable course over the past 100 years."--Kirkus "A dense and detailed account of a still surprisingly contentious subject despite our increasingly liberal attitudes."--Lucy Scholes, The Independent "Zimmerman's well-documented research offers a history of brave and reasoned efforts - to inform without inciting prurience, to warn without explaining, to respect without offending - that have all failed to win consensus or even to achieve demonstrable results."--Choice "The book is an excellent source of information for the classroom in a diverse set of studies, such as history, education, human sexuality, gender studies, sociology, psychology and religious studies. Too Hot To Handle engages the reader and is a comfortable, yet interesting read."--Hennie Weiss, Metapsychology Online Reviews "Zimmerman's rich book is a history of schools and education as much as it is a history of sex. It brings a curiously fresh approach to accounts of sex education... A major new account of a topic that has received some considerable attention in past decades of historical scholarship."--Alison Bashford, Journal of American History
Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix INTRODUCTION - THE CENTURY OF SCHOOL, AND THE CENTURY OF SEX 1 CHAPTER 1 THE BIRDS, THE BEES, AND THE GLOBE: THE ORIGINS OF SEX EDUCATION, 1898-1939 14 CHAPTER 2 A FAMILY OF MAN? SEX EDUCATION IN A COLD WAR WORLD, 1940-64 49 CHAPTER 3 SEX EDUCATION AND THE "SEXUAL REVOLUTION," 1965-83 80 CHAPTER 4 A RIGHT TO KNOWLEDGE? CULTURE, DIVERSITY, AND SEX EDUCATION IN THE AGE OF AIDS, 1984-2010 115 CONCLUSION - A MIRROR, NOT A SPEARHEAD: SEX EDUCATION AND THE LIMITS OF SCHOOL 144 NOTES 153 MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS 193 INDEX 197
