ABSTRACT
The question of whether or not schools should teach students about sexuality has been one of heated debate since the early twentieth century. The simple fact remains that schools do teach students countless lessons about sexuality, in a variety of ways, every single day. As social institutions through which every citizen passes, schools have an enormous amount of power to influence the beliefs and values of young people. In this chapter, I analyze some of the ways that public schools shape America's sexual culture by looking at their informal and formal curriculum, culture, and their sex education policies. My chief claim is that schools have tried to promote what is considered a "normal" and "respectable" sexuality, that is, heterosexuality, conventional gender sexual norms, and an ideal of marriage and family. Lately, some students have begun to challenge some of these sexual norms.
