Janice M. Irvine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Marginal People in Deviant Places: Ethnography, Difference, and the Challenge to Scientific Racism.

“Judicious and perceptive[,] . . . Irvine explores the clash between professional sex education advocates and politicized Christian evangelicals that has played out on the stage of local communities and school systems since the 1960s. She illuminates a significant yet largely unknown story of the politics of sexuality.”-Kathy Peiss, author of Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture “A riveting account of how the Christian Right came to control much of the sex education curriculum taught in public schools. . . . In chilling detail, Irvine shows how the Christian Right’s provocative, often distorted depictions of secular sex education heated emotion.”-Gail Bederman, Women’s Review of Books “A remarkable acute work, with great insights for historians interested in post-1960s politics, issues of free speech, and the history of sexuality.”-Helen Horowitz, Journal of American History “Must reading for scholars, sexuality researchers, activists, and public policy and public health planners engaged in efforts to promote education on sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infection prevention for adolescents in schools.”-JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

Janice M. Irvine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Marginal People in Deviant Places: Ethnography, Difference, and the Challenge to Scientific Racism.

“Judicious and perceptive[,] . . . Irvine explores the clash between professional sex education advocates and politicized Christian evangelicals that has played out on the stage of local communities and school systems since the 1960s. She illuminates a significant yet largely unknown story of the politics of sexuality.”-Kathy Peiss, author of Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture “A riveting account of how the Christian Right came to control much of the sex education curriculum taught in public schools. . . . In chilling detail, Irvine shows how the Christian Right’s provocative, often distorted depictions of secular sex education heated emotion.”-Gail Bederman, Women’s Review of Books “A remarkable acute work, with great insights for historians interested in post-1960s politics, issues of free speech, and the history of sexuality.”-Helen Horowitz, Journal of American History “Must reading for scholars, sexuality researchers, activists, and public policy and public health planners engaged in efforts to promote education on sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infection prevention for adolescents in schools.”-JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

Janice M. Irvine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Marginal People in Deviant Places: Ethnography, Difference, and the Challenge to Scientific Racism.

“Judicious and perceptive[,] . . . Irvine explores the clash between professional sex education advocates and politicized Christian evangelicals that has played out on the stage of local communities and school systems since the 1960s. She illuminates a significant yet largely unknown story of the politics of sexuality.”-Kathy Peiss, author of Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture “A riveting account of how the Christian Right came to control much of the sex education curriculum taught in public schools. . . . In chilling detail, Irvine shows how the Christian Right’s provocative, often distorted depictions of secular sex education heated emotion.”-Gail Bederman, Women’s Review of Books “A remarkable acute work, with great insights for historians interested in post-1960s politics, issues of free speech, and the history of sexuality.”-Helen Horowitz, Journal of American History “Must reading for scholars, sexuality researchers, activists, and public policy and public health planners engaged in efforts to promote education on sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV infection prevention for adolescents in schools.”-JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)