“Touchy Subject tackles an incredibly important and vexing subject: sex education and its place in public schooling. Andersen and Bialystok team up to provide an engaging look back at the mostly terrible ways that we have approached sex education in North America. They examine the aims and arguments for sex education in public schools and propose an enlightened but politically liberal approach they call ‘Democratic Humanistic Sexuality Education.’ This approach foregrounds children’s interests and needs in health and well-being, and a pluralistic society’s interest in religious neutrality."

Ann E. Cudd, University of Pittsburgh

“To casual observers, it might seem as if Americans are hopelessly divided on sex education in public schools. Bialystok and Andersen do an admirable job of moving beyond the standard assumption of a simple, implacable culture-war divide on the issue and pave the way for productive discussion.”

Adam Laats, Binghamton University, SUNY

Coauthored by a historian (Anderson) and a philosopher (Bialystok), Touchy Subject’s unique premise is built on two parts: three chapters explaining the trajectory of sex education in the US in the 20th century and three chapters making the normative case for a version of robust sex education in which the state balances the needs of adolescents and the rights of parents . . . This is a book for public school teachers and academics, and it will be particularly useful for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in the fields of education and women, gender, and sexuality studies. Recommended."

Choice

"Touchy Subject is a brisk, lively, accessible introduction to a vast field of scholarly inquiry."

Theory and Research in Education

" . . . .co-authors Lauren Bialystok and Lisa M. F. Andersen tackle the always delicate subject of sex education with admirable clarity and scholarly insight."

Josh Corngold, Philosophical Inquiry in Education