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Edward B. Lyman

"Let's Tell the Whole Story About Sex" -- Guide to Sex Education for Parents in the Early 1950s

KITTY: Mother, what do husbands and wives do when they get married?

MOTHER: (STARTLED IN SPITE OF HERSELF) What do husbands and wives-- (QUICK RECOVERY--CASUALLY NOW) Why do you ask, dear?

New York, New York: American Social Hygiene Association, c.1952. An early 1950s sex education booklet in the form of transcribed conversations "between parents and their children [that] were written by a prominent Catholic layman for nonsectarian use. They are distributed by the American Social Hygiene Association as one example of the helpful material on sex education available to parents today" (upper wrapper verso). Highlights common worries parents have, including how to broach delicate subjects with their children, how to pitch sex education to children of different ages, etc. Covers reproduction, menstruation, puberty, and marriage. The last one provides perhaps the best entertainment to modern readers, and features a teen girl being instructed by both parents what happens during sexual intercourse, in a way that is somehow both frank and completely opaque at the same time (it was the 1950s after all). Single vol. (8.5" by 5.5"), pp. 21, [3], illus., in original illus. wrps with images of children on front. Very good. Light toning.

Price: $225.00

Item #24000388

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