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Using Science to Argue for Sexual Education in U.S. Public SchoolsDr. Ella Flagg Young and the 1913 "Chicago Experiment"
Robin E. Jensen
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
During the Progressive Era, Dr. Ella Flagg Young instituted the first sexual education program in U.S. public schools. She garnered support for her "Chicago Experiment" by integrating scientific appeals about sexual education into popular discourses on modern research methods, education, and physical health. Although Young lived in an era when respect for science was at an all-time high, she created arguments for public sexual education that balanced scientific information about sex with audiences' ideological/moral concerns. This rhetorical history builds from critical rhetorical theory to offer implications for contemporary health advocates attempting to steer sexual education policy in new directions.
Key Words: Ella Flagg Young • Progressive Era • rhetorical history • sexual education
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Science Communication, Vol. 29, No. 2,
217-241 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1075547007309101
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