The following are samples of various Sex & Gender Theory curricula, otherwise known as “Comprehensive Sexuality Education.” The following examples are currently, or have at one time, all been endorsed by California’s Department of Education’s (See the Framework). Many states use similar materials. Because the material is copyrighted and available only under purchase or license agreement, we can only provide links and brief samples of the materials for the purpose of critique. Bear in mind that while a particular example may not a book write, taken as a whole and taught over several years by adult school officials, these materials tell a story whose message is as self-evident as it is dangerous.

Who are You? the Kid’s guide to gender identity: Instructs children to ignore the sex they were born with, teaching them that “gender is much more than the body you were born with.”

Unico Como You!: Tells the story about a boy named Danny who looks forward to dressing up like a princess at the school parade. His mother supports him 100%! 

My Princess Boy: Tells the story of a young boy who likes to dress in girl’s clothes. Family and friends are supportive but others make fun of the boy. Readers are urged to express caring and compassion for children who cross-dress.

10,000 Dresses: “Every night, Bailey dreams about magical dresses: dresses made of crystals and rainbows, dresses made of flowers, dresses made of windows. . . . Unfortunately, when Bailey’s awake, no one wants to hear about these beautiful dreams. Quite the contrary. “You’re a BOY!” Mother and Father tell Bailey. “You shouldn’t be thinking about dresses at all.” Then Bailey meets Laurel, an older girl who is touched and inspired by Bailey’s imagination and courage. In friendship, the two of them begin making dresses together. And Bailey’s dreams come true!”

Jacobs New Dress : Further introduces 2nd graders to gender diversity by telling the story of Jacob, who wants to wear girl’s dresses to school. Described as a “heartwarming” story, Jacob tries to convince his parents to let him wear dresses to school.

Uncle Bobby’s Wedding : Introduces same-sex marriage through the story of a guinea pig uncle who is planning to marry another male guinea pig.

King and King : “In this postmodern fractured fairy tale, a worn-out and badly beleaguered Queen is ready for retirement. After many hours of nagging, the crown prince, who “never cared much for princesses,” finally caves in and agrees to wed in order to ascend the throne. Their search for a suitable bride extends far and wide, but none of the eligible princesses strikes the Prince’s fancy, until Princess Madeleine shows up. The Prince is immediately smitten – with her brother, Prince Lee. The wedding is “very special,” the Queen settles down on a chaise lounge in the sun, and everyone lives happily ever after.”

In our Mother’s House : “Marmee, Meema, and the kids are just like any other family on the block. In their beautiful house, they cook dinner together, they laugh together, and they dance together. But some of the other families don’t accept them. They say they are different. How can a family have two moms and no dad? But Marmee and Meema’s house is full of love. And they teach their children that different doesn’t mean wrong. And no matter how many moms or dads they have, they are everything a family is meant to be”.

It’s Not the Stork! This book, intended for grades K-Gr. 4, depicts realistic cartoons of young boys and girls completely naked with legs spread while the children inspect their organs. As one reviewer notes, “what remains will still widen many eyes: pictures of nude children with body parts exhaustively labeled; text about the “kind of loving [that] happens when . . . the man’s penis goes inside the woman’s vagina” that candidly expresses what the accompanying under-the-blankets visual leaves to the imagination.”

The Harvey Milk Story: Celebrated the life of Harvey Milk for the fact that he was an openly gay man elected to political office in the United States.

It’s Perfectly Normal: Intended for 10-year-olds and up, this book graphically shows cartoon images of sex acts and normalizes homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender identities.

Sex, Puberty and all that stuff: Intended for teens, this book describes sex acts in common vernacular and with graphic cartoon imagery. It also introduces the use of condoms and other protective methods to avoid the transmission of STDs during encouraged sexual activities.

While teaching CSE in grade school is discretionary, under CYHA, ten hours of CSE “health” instruction is mandated in Middle School and then again in High School.

The graphic below is a screenshot taken directly from the ASHWG website of approved complete curricula packages for Middle and High School.

With few exceptions, these materials are not available for viewing from the general public, but available only to school districts with contractual agreements. Online access is then password protected. Parents of public-school children are afforded some access to the materials, but only by making an appointment with school officials. Where available, the information provided for the ASHWG approved curricula is in the following order:

• Name of curricula provider and a brief description
• Provider links to information about the curricula
• A “Harms Analysis” of the curricula provided by STOPCSE.org

FLASH is a K-12 CSE curriculum developed in collaboration with the Kings County Public Health Agency (Washington State). According to the FLASH website: “The FLASH curriculum is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. It is designed to support young people in making healthy choices: abstain from sex, use protection when they do have sex, seek health care when they need it, communicate effectively with their families, and respect others’ decisions not to have sex…The Theory of Planned Behavior posits that the combination of attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms and self-efficacy shape an individual’s behaviors. As such, FLASH includes a variety of strategies designed to create positive attitudes, beliefs and norms, and to build skills and self-efficacy in order to reduce rates of pregnancy, STDs and sexual violence.”

• Flash Curriculum
• Flash Elementary School Curriculum (Grades 4/5/6)
• Flash Middle School Curriculum (Grades 6-8)
• Flash High School Curriculum (Grades 9-12)
• FLASH: Harms Analysis

TEEN TALK was developed by a Redwood City (CA) organization, Health Connected: Sex Ed Starts Here. According to its website, “Health Connected has put particular focus on LGBTQ-inclusivity to ensure that students of all sexual orientations and gender identities feel included, reflected, affirmed, and safe in our curricula…. This is certainly something we’ve been aware of for several years, but until very recently, we haven’t tackled the full array of identities and their implications for our work explicitly and with intention… Over the next several months (and beyond), our Inclusion Task Force will be embarking on a journey to incorporate more conversations in our classrooms about power, privilege, systems of oppression, and how all of those things connect to all of the identities students, parents, and educators bring into the sex ed classroom.”

• • Puberty Talk
  • Teen Talk Middle School
  • Teen Talk High School
  • Teen Talk: Harms Analysis

POSITIVE PREVENTION PLUS (PPP): PPP was developed by Cardea Services, a national training and research organization.  According to Cardea’s website on PPP, “Positive Prevention PLUS © is an evidence-based comprehensive sexual health education and teen pregnancy prevention curriculum. The curriculum is written by teachers, for teachers, in compliance with the updated California Education Code including the California Healthy Youth Act (AB 329), “Health Framework for California Public Schools” (sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education), (SB 695), and the National Health Education Standards.”  While Cardea does not allow unlicensed access to it curriculum, it does offer access to its Teacher’s Guides:

• Positive Prevention Plus Middle School Teacher’s Guide
• Positive Prevention Plus High School Teacher’s Guide
• Positive Prevention Plus: Harms Analysis

MAKING PROUD CHOICES (MPC):  MPC is a product of “Advancing Health Equity”, a Scotts Valley (CA) based 501.C.3 which promotes itself as a being on the “forefront of developing… science-based health promotion programs and interventions for youth and adult populations since 1981.” According to its website, MPC is “An Evidence-Based, Safer-Sex Approach to Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STD Prevention is an 8-module curriculum that provides adolescents with the knowledge, confidence and skills necessary to reduce their risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV and pregnancy by abstaining from sex or using condoms if they choose to have sex. The intervention is based on cognitive-behavioral theories, focus groups and the authors’ extensive experience working with youth.” However, MPC’s content also includes what it calls “outcome expectancies”, including 1) Goals and Dreams Beliefs, 2) Prevention Beliefs, 3) Partner-Reaction Beliefs – “This belief may prevent a person from negotiating condom use”,

and 4) Hedonistic Beliefs – “the belief that condom use interferes with sexual pleasure. For example, many people believe that condoms reduce physical sensations during sexual activity or ruin the mood. Therefore, they are less likely to use condoms during sexual intercourse. In Sessions 7 and 8, youth learn that sex is still fun and pleasurable when a condom is used and are taught how to incorporate this belief into role-play scenarios.”

• MPC Curriculum Overview
• MPC CA Version Table of Contents
• MPC CA Sample Content Link
• MPC: Harms Analysis

BE REAL. BE READY (BRBR):  BRBR is a CSE curriculum developed, according to its website, by the San Francisco Unified School District “in collaboration with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Adolescent Health Working Group. In addition to increasing students’ knowledge and skills, the curriculum connects students to health services in their community. The lessons in Be Real. Be Ready. have been reviewed and approved by SFUSD’s Curriculum and Materials Review Task Force.” It was designed specifically to meet the requirements of CHYA in collaboration with the California Sexual Health Roundtable, convened by the ACLU, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, and Planned Parenthood.

• BE REAL. BE READY Curriculum
• BE REAL. BE READY Curriculum – San Francisco Unified School District
• BE REAL. BE READY: Harms Analysis

Schools are not restricted to the packaged curriculums above. In addition to these, the CDE Framework makes other recommendations on materials it considers suitable for high-school kids, to be used in conjunction with packaged curriculums or separately. One example is the book “S.E.X., the all-you-need-to-know sexuality guide to get you through your teens and twenties, by Heather Corina.” This book contains graphic descriptions of topics like “Deeper Manual Sex” and “Blood Play.”

In addition to the curricula above, ASHWG offers “tools” to providers of curricula, like the graphic below:

Other ASHWG resources are found here: Resources to Support Local Implementation of CSE in California Schools.