GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

The vast majority: “The SIECUS State Profiles 2022,” Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), accessed January 3, 2023, siecus.org/​the-siecus-state-profiles-2022/ [inactive].

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

school districts aren’t required: Guttmacher Institute, “Sex and HIV Education,” last modified September 1, 2023, guttmacher.org/​state-policy/​explore/​sex-and-hiv-education.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

little evidence that providing: Kathrin Stanger-Hall and David Hall, “Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S.,” PLOS One 6, no. 10 (2011), doi.org/​10.1371/​journal.pone.0024658.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

teen births and risky sexual behaviors: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Committee Opinion No. 678: Comprehensive Sexuality Education,” Obstetrics and Gynecology 128, no. 5 (2016; reaffirmed 2020): 9–10, doi.org/​10.1097/​AOG.0000000000001769.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

risk of being sexually abused: Eva S. Goldfarb and Lisa D. Lieberman, “Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education,” Journal of Adolescent Health 68, no. 1 (2021): 13–27, doi.org/​10.1016/​j.jadohealth.2020.07.036.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

twenty-five states: Guttmacher Institute, “Sex and HIV Education.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

seventeen states: Guttmacher Institute, “Sex and HIV Education.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

young people are less likely: Laura D. Lindberg and Leslie M. Kantor, “Adolescents’ Receipt of Sex Education in a Nationally Representative Sample, 2011–2019,” Journal of Adolescent Health 70, no. 2 (2022): 290–297, doi.org/​10.1016/​j.jadohealth.2021.08.027.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“It was as if”: Katie Wheeler, “We Teach Girls to Be Ashamed in Sex Ed. This Has to Change,” The Lily, November 5, 2017, thelily.com/​we-teach-girls-to-be-ashamed-in-sex-ed-this-has-to-change-2/.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

Fewer than half: Laura D. Lindberg and Leslie M. Kantor, “Adolescents’ Receipt of Sex Education in a Nationally Representative Sample, 2011–2019,” Journal of Adolescent Health 70, no. 2 (2022): 290–297, doi.org/​10.1016/​j.jadohealth.2021.08.027.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

barred from demonstrating: Mississippi Legislature, 2023 Regular Session, House Bill 1390, Section 37-13-171, billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/​documents/​2023/​html/​HB/​1300-1399/​HB1390IN.htm.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“homosexual conduct”: Bills have been introduced to remove the requirement that Texas sex education curricula include that “homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense,” but they have failed. Technically, the ban isn’t enforceable because of a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared state laws criminalizing homosexual behavior to be unconstitutional. But the Texas ban remains in the state’s penal code. Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 85.007, “Educational Materials for Minors,” statutes.capitol.texas.gov/​docs/​HS/​htm/​HS.85.htm.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

In Tennessee: “Tennessee State Profile,” SIECUS, accessed January 25, 2023, siecus.org/​state_profile/​tennessee-state-profile.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“Kissing and hugging”: Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central, April 18, 2012, cc.com/​video/​er0kn7/​the-colbert-report-the-word-gateway-hug.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

Only ten states: Guttmacher Institute, “Sex and HIV Education.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

instruction that discriminates against: SIECUS, “The SIECUS State Profiles 2022.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

people ages fifteen to twenty-four: NCHHSTP, “Incidence, Prevalence, and Cost of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States,” last modified March 16, 2022, cdc.gov/​nchhstp/​newsroom/​fact-sheets/​std/​STI-Incidence-Prevalence-Cost-Factsheet.html [inactive].

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

one in five people: NCHHSTP, “Incidence, Prevalence, and Cost of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“There still seems to be”: Jenna Wortham, “We’re More Honest with Our Phones than with Our Doctors,” New York Times Magazine, March 23, 2016, nytimes.com/​2016/​03/​27/​magazine/​were-more-honest-with-our-phones-than-with-our-doctors.html.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

religious underpinnings: Planned Parenthood Federation of America, “History of Sex Education in the U.S.,” 2016, cdn.plannedparenthood.org/​uploads/​filer_public/​da/​67/​da67fd5d-631d-438a-85e8-a446d90fd1e3/​20170209_sexed_d04_1.pdf [inactive].

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

difficult to pass legislation: Rachel Janfaza, “The Nuanced Push for American Sex Education,” Harvard Political Review, January 24, 2020, harvardpolitics.com/​american-sex-education/.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

knew that the ovaries: Department of Health and Human Services, “Fertility Knowledge Survey, 2020: Findings Report,” 2020, opa.hhs.gov/​sites/​default/​files/​2021-01/​fertility-knowledge-survey-findings-exec-summary-2020.pdf.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“may have grave implications”: Department of Health and Human Services, “Fertility Knowledge Survey, 2020.”

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

Other research focused on fertility awareness: Juliana Pedro, Tânia Brandão, Lone Schmidt, Maria E. Costa, and Mariana V. Martins, “Families Formed through Assisted Reproductive Technology: Causes, Experiences, and Consequences in an International Context,” Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences 123, no. 2 (2018): 71-81, doi.org/​10.1080/​03009734.2018.1480186.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT

“If you have never”: Natalie Angier, Woman: An Intimate Geography (New York: Anchor, 2000), 4–5.