Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education, 1870–1924 (review)

Robin Jensen’s Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education takes as its focus the rhetorical discourse surrounding the establishment of public sex education curricula in the United States. Jensen argues that the Progressive Era has much to teach us about contemporary arguments about public sex education. Dirty Words provides rich analysis and context, and illuminates the discourse both for and against public sex education. The introduction of the book opens with questions about how the contemporary public sex education debate has arrived at such a state and questions “why the United States has made so little progress in keeping residents free of disease and informed about sex” (xii). The answer to this question, according to Jensen, can be found in an examination of the rhetorical strategies of those who shaped the history of public sex education.

The format and organization of the book is clear and moves from historical context to analysis in a thematic and chronological organization that builds chapter by chapter, culminating in an overarching analysis. The organization of the book places discourse about public sex education in conversation with literature from multiple disciplines, most notably American history and gender studies. Jensen’s exemplary writing style and skillful illumination of detail make Dirty Words an engaging and thoughtful read. The goals of this project are clear and well stated in the introduction and carried through to the conclusion.

One stated goal of Dirty Words is to illuminate a segment of rhetorical history that is particularly salient to contemporary life and rhetorical study, but “has yet to be told because much of the featured discourse has been erroneously framed as marginal” (xii). The examination of such public discourses “is a starting point for understanding broader issues such as citizenship, societal power structures, and health care delivery” (xvii). Further, one of the main concerns that Dirty Words raises is that previous historical narratives of public sex education marginalize, and often outright neglect, the rhetoric of women whose efforts are paramount in the push for public sex education. Jensen rectifies this lack through extensive archival research to locate and analyze the work of Dr. Ella Flagg Young, Margaret Sanger, and Dr. Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros as examples of the rhetorical impact of female sex education advocates. Dirty Words also analyzes archival material of public health campaigns against venereal disease, including a previously unstudied public health campaign aimed at African American men. The inclusion of such previously neglected materials is one of the major contributions of Dirty Words, both to the field of rhetoric and to the history of public sex education.

A summary of the contents of the book shows the value of this work to the study of public sex education and the discursive practices surrounding the rhetoric of public sex education advocates. In chapter 1, Dirty Words provides a compelling overview of the social/cultural context that arguably made necessary the ambiguousness of the rhetoric surrounding public sex education. The discursive strategies that Dirty Words uncovers are significantly affected by the restrictive Comstock code. Jensen’s analysis clearly demonstrates that Comstockery required that public sex education reformers use strategically ambiguous language. The contextual work of chapter 1 is well situated within the constraints of the Progressive Era and adds to the body of knowledge about Margaret Sanger and her work with “family limitation.” Chapter 2 examines the work of Dr. Ella Flagg Young, who introduced the first public school sex education program in the country in 1913. Although Flagg’s work was soon challenged, the value of her contributions to the historical narrative of public sex education cannot be denied. Dirty Word’s analysis of Flagg’s rhetorical style and inclusionary tactics in the face of racism, sexism, and classism indicates the rhetorical import of Flagg’s work as well.

In chapter 3, the social hygiene movement’s strategies to continue public sex education outside the public school system is well...