Understandings of sexuality and sex education have changed dramatically, and in this collection, the authors explore the various texts that were used to teach, to entertain, to sanction and to form a sexual standard for a nation. According to Nelson and Martin, these include a puberty education, sermons on abstinence, medical writings promoting sexual fulfillment, Hollywood comedies about sexual coming of age and picture books validating homosexuality. The essays included here are designed to illustrate the many responses that Anglophone culture has had to such texts for over a century.

LESLEY HALL Archivist in the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, London, UK MARGOT HILLEL Head of the School of Arts and Sciences (Victoria), Australian Catholic University, Australia KENNETH KIDD Assistant Professor of English at the University of Florida, USA MICHELLE MARTIN Assistant Professor of English at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA CLAUDIA NELSON Associate Professor of English at Texas A & M University, USA SHARYN PEARCE Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Creative Industries at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ANGELA M. SALAS received her Ph. D. from the University of Nebraska, USA SHURLEE SWAIN Reader in History at Australian Catholic University, Australia ELLEN WARNE Reseach Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne, Australia