--- description: The facts of life have been inspiring debate for decades title: Sex Education, From 'Social Hygiene' to 'The Porn Factor' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte55f59d9968cdaec/6987682b428a9ed7d3cc5519/1101980615_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sex Education, From 'Social Hygiene' to 'The Porn Factor'  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 12, 2014 11:30 AM CUT  The June 15, 1998, cover of TIME The June 15, 1998, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 12, 2014 11:30 AM CUT Within mere weeks of the publication of TIME’s first issue in 1923, [sex education was making news](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,727136,00.html "undefined"): the “Social Hygiene Bureau” had done a survey of 5,000 American women, with the goal of designing a more “discriminating” kind of sex ed. This was news because 74% of the respondents admitted to using birth control of some sort, a surprising finding for the era. Over the years, TIME’s coverage of the topic — which has included several cover stories — has ranged from 1930s worries about “[over-intellectualization](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,787911,00.html "undefined")” of the topic, to Alfred Kinsey’s 1950s [pronouncements](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860390,00.html "undefined") that some form of sex ed should begin in infancy, to the first[ federal grants](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843869,00.html "undefined") in the field in the 1960s, to a 1972 cover story’s finding that teens having sex younger didn’t mean they weren’t “[woefully ignorant](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878002,00.html "undefined")” on the topic, to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s 1980s statement that sex ed should be [“as explicit as necessary](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962907,00.html "undefined"),” to [the 1990s fear](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988535,00.html "undefined") that _Dawson’s Creek_ was doing more to educate kids than schools were, to the 2000s fear that the Internet’s “[porn factor](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993158,00.html "undefined")” had replaced _Dawson’s Creek_. And yet a few questions have been constant: How much of this is about the mechanics? How much is about the morality? How much should be done by schools and how much by parents? Those debates continue today, as schools confront the problem of why they’re still having trouble teaching the topic. **_Read more:_** [Why Schools Can’t Teach Sex Ed in the Internet Age](http://time.com/why-schools-cant-teach-sex-ed/ "undefined")  The Aug. 21, 1972, cover of TIME Cover Credit: FRANK COWAN  The Nov. 24, 1986, cover of TIME TIME  The May 24, 1993, cover of TIME Cover Credit: JEFFERY NEWBURY  The June 15, 1998, cover of TIME TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3578664/sex-education-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3578664/sex-education-history/"},"headline":"Sex Education, From 'Social Hygiene' to 'The Porn Factor'","datePublished":"2014-11-12T11:30:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:47.092Z","description":"The facts of life have been inspiring debate for decades","url":"https://time.com/3578664/sex-education-history/","keywords":["Education","Living","Pornography","Sex","photography","health","sexuality"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte55f59d9968cdaec/6987682b428a9ed7d3cc5519/1101980615_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte55f59d9968cdaec/6987682b428a9ed7d3cc5519/1101980615_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"June 15, 1998, cover","caption":"June 15, 1998, cover","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3578664/sex-education-history/","name":"Sex Education, From 'Social Hygiene' to 'The Porn Factor'"}}]}] ```