National Family Sexuality Education Month

In 1975, Dr. Sol Gordon, a psychologist, author, and nationally known sexuality educator, founded National Family Sexuality Education Month through the Institute for Family Research and Education, the Syracuse-based organization he directed. Gordon was renowned as a speaker for his insight, humor, and honest approach to communication about sexuality, relationships, and raising children, and his books included The Teenage Survival Book, Raising a Child Responsibly in a Sexually Permissive World, and How Can You Tell If You’re Really in Love? His plainspoken style made him a sought-after voice on campuses and in communities nationwide. He believed that families, not strangers, should be the primary source of information about sexuality for children. The observance has been held every October since 1975, giving parents an annual nudge to start the conversations they might otherwise keep postponing.

Many parents avoid talking openly with their children about sex and health because they feel embarrassed or simply do not know how to begin, a hesitation Gordon understood well. According to Planned Parenthood, the absence of such crucial discussions in a culture saturated with sexual messages leaves children vulnerable to the unrealistic ideas they absorb every day from advertising, music, and video. When parents stay silent, the media becomes the teacher by default, and its lessons are rarely careful ones. Family Sexuality Education Month exists to change that pattern, one conversation at a time, by encouraging parents to speak first, speak plainly, and speak with love.

The month asks families to frame sexuality as a normal, healthy part of life rather than a subject defined only by warnings and worst cases. Experts who carry on Gordon’s work advise parents to keep the message positive: teach children to appreciate their own bodies, to treat others with respect, to understand consent, and to express love while honoring their own values. Parents can also model the values they preach, showing children what respectful relationships look like in everyday life. When the tone is warm instead of fearful, children are far more likely to keep listening, and far more likely to come back with the next question.

Effective family talks share a few common traits. Parents are encouraged to skip scare tactics, which experience shows do not work, and instead build their children’s self-esteem while respecting a teenager’s privacy as much as their own. Short, calm talks beat one dramatic lecture every time. It also helps to choose the right moment: a car ride or a walk side by side can feel less intense than a face-to-face sit-down, and everyday moments often open the best doors. Most importantly, the conversation should run both ways: let children ask questions, ask them how they are feeling, and be transparent in return. The more honest a parent is, the more a child will be willing to open up, and openness is the whole point.

One conversation is never enough. Sexuality education works best as a series of small, age-appropriate talks that grow with the child, from naming body parts correctly with young children to discussing friendships, media messages, and puberty with preteens, to covering relationships, consent, and responsibility with teenagers. Spreading the talks across childhood keeps each one small and calm, and it teaches children something just as valuable as the facts: that no topic is off-limits with the people who love them most. Each small talk builds on the last, so that by the teenage years the family has a shared vocabulary and a habit of honesty to draw on.

Dr. Gordon worked at a time when sexuality education in America was finding its footing, and his month fit into a larger movement. A decade earlier, in 1964, Dr. Mary Calderone, then the medical director at Planned Parenthood, had resigned her position to found the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, known as SIECUS. Calderone became known as the mother of sex education and helped transform the field from vague moral lessons into a scientifically informed framework. Gordon carried that spirit into the family home, insisting that parents deserved support and plain language, not judgment, as they taught their children. His own books for young people, including the teen guide You!, were praised for refusing to talk down to readers and for delivering hard facts with a light touch.

During October, families can observe the month in ways large and small: reading a trusted book together, attending a parent workshop at a school or library, or simply choosing one evening to talk with the phones put away. Librarians and educators can recommend age-appropriate resources, health providers can offer guidance on starting the conversation, and faith and community groups can host discussion nights for parents. Even sharing the hashtag #FamilySexualityEducationMonth on social media can remind other parents that they are not alone in having these talks. The goal is modest and profound: make the conversation normal, keep the tone kind, and keep it going all year long.

THE STORY BEHIND NATIONAL FAMILY SEXUALITY EDUCATION MONTH

📆 1975: The Founding
Dr. Sol Gordon, Professor Emeritus of Child and Family Studies at Syracuse University, creates the observance through the Institute for Family Research and Education, which he founded and directed. It has been observed every October since 1975, making it one of the longest-running family health observances in the country.

👥 The Parent’s Role
Gordon’s central conviction was that parents, not strangers or the media, should be a child’s primary source of information about sexuality, and his books and lectures gave families the plain language and the confidence to do it.

💬 Positive, Not Fearful
The month teaches families to keep the message positive, skip scare tactics, build self-esteem, respect a teenager’s privacy, and talk about respect, values, and love.

👏 A Two-Way Street
Effective family talks let children ask questions and be heard; transparency from parents invites openness from kids, one small conversation at a time.

🏫 A Wider Movement
The observance grew alongside the work of Dr. Mary Calderone and SIECUS, founded in 1964, which transformed sex education from moral lessons into science.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

🏠 Start One Conversation
Sit down with your kids this October and have one calm, honest talk about bodies, respect, or relationships, and let them lead with their questions.

📖 Read a Trusted Book Together
Borrow an age-appropriate book about bodies and relationships from your library and read it side by side, pausing to talk as you go.

👥 Host a Parent Discussion Night
Invite other parents to a relaxed evening at a library or community center to share approaches and resources for talking with kids.

Celebrate National Family Sexuality Education Month

All through October 2027, choose one evening to talk with your children about the things that matter most. Keep the tone warm, keep the door open, and let them know you will always answer honestly, even when the question is hard. The conversations we start at home shape the adults our children become, and this October is the perfect time to begin. One honest conversation can change everything.