Sexuality, Medicine, and American Society: Dr. Mary Calderone and the Politics of Sex Education

FAIN: FA-50024-04

Ellen S. More
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston (Galveston, TX 77555-5302)

I propose to complete portions of a book under contract to Beacon Press, tentatively titled "Sexuality and American Society: Mary Steichen Calderone and the Politics of Sex Education." Using Dr. Calderone's career as a touchstone, my book will examine the political controversy and internal contradictions of comprehensive sex education programs from the 1960s to the present and the paradoxical implications of programs that tried to assimilate the concept of "sexuality" into the discourses of "health," "normalcy," and "responsibility." For the period of the grant, I will focus specifically on the career of Mary Calderone and its influence on sex education programs developed by the medical profession for clinicians and medical students. The majority of the grant period will be devoted to Chapter I, "Mary Steichen Calderone: The New Woman Discovers Sex," and Chapter V, "Sex in Medicine: Physicians and the Sexual Revolution."

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