Sex is not definable in simple terms, since there is no single entity that can be labeled sex. The sexes are dimorphisms within most plant and animal species and in the human species, which are polar, correlative, and complementary [see Edgar Allen et al., eds., Sex and Internal Secretions (Baltimore 1939) 3, 6, 346]. Dictionaries describe sex as the character of being male or female in reproduction. The concept of sex is narrowed or broadened to refer to: (1) the act of coitus between male and female, (2) the specific animal or human pleasure experienced in orgasm, (3) the erotic techniques of stimulation toward orgasm, (4) the human relational symbolism of coitus known as love-making, and (5) the total polar differences between the sexes in physiology and in the reproductive and social role or function.

Sex is an analogical reality. In the plant it is simply reproductive, In the animal it is reproductive, instinctually emotional, and involving some instinctual parental behavior, depending on the species. In human beings it is reproductive, emotive, intellectually meaningful, voluntarily amatory, and calling forth continued polar role-playing for the maturity of offspring.

In the human being, therefore, sex is the substantial character of masculinity or femininity that permeates the bodily constitution, emotional bias, intellectual and voluntary predispositions, and the religious attitudes of each human person. It is matured and continued in physical-educational, adoptive, substitutional (or metaphorical) fatherhood or motherhood.

In the animal, after maturation, reproductive function and behavior is automatic, instinctual, and (usually) seasonal. In human persons, although it is initiated and stimulated by conscious and unconscious drives, reproductive and sociosexual behavior is learned, evaluated, controlled. and directed by human intelligence either through discovery or education. This is apparent in the very fact that there can be controversy over the causes of human sexual behavior, as to whether these are biological, cultural, or biocultural [see C. C. Zimmerman, L. F. Cervantes. Marriage and the Family (Chicago 1956) 158-189].

Meaning of Sex Education. Education implies personal and internal learning combined with external help that draws out the potentialities of a child to maturity and beyond. Sex education, therefore, involves the means of learning and the external conditions that aid the development of a boy to manhood and fatherhood and a girl to womanhood and motherhood. From the educational agencies of home, school, and culture, this demands exemplification of virility and femininity, the evocation of intellectual and volitional attitudes, the introduction of religious perspectives, guidance in the practice of chastity and modesty, the training of emotional response, as well as the imparting of facts about the body. The most important aspect of the development in question is the process of identification in which a boy or girl discovers his or her own individual sexual characteristics by intellectual and emotional comparison and contrast with loved adults of both sexes. Though it is possible deliberately to choose sexual aberrations, many sexual sins and perversions, such as premarital unchastity, masturbation, adultery, homosexuality, and sadomasochism have their origins in the lack of psychologically adequate sexual identification, especially with parents. They have the greatest influence in terms of time, attention, and presence. This is true even though the parents' impact may be minimal, for their very inadequacy marks the child more than any harmful influence, or beneficial substitutional influence by others [see Von Gagern, The Problem of Onanism (Westminster, Md. 1955) ].

Sex instruction is used in a more limited sense to signify the imparting of the facts of human reproduction. The phrase varies according to the user. It may mean the initial enlightenment of the growing child, instruction in the personal hygiene of the generative organs, the description of the techniques of coitus for those about to enter marriage, or remedial counseling for spouses who find themselves frigid or impotent.

The description of other human functions or actions is commonly less likely to stir the appetite of the reader or hearer toward the action described (e.g., murder, theft, eating, drinking). Since the details of generative organs, tumescence, techniques of stimulation, coitus, and sexual perversions frequently arouse an erotic response, especially in the immature, and since such response raises a question regarding the religio-moral responsibility in the matter of chastity or modesty, the Catholic Church has definite teachings on sex instruction (see CHASTITY; MODESTY).

The Church and Initial Sex Enlightenment. The Church opposes and condemns purely naturalistic, indiscriminate (not adapted to needs of each individual and each sex), public (if indiscriminate), too detailed (as to circumstances) sex initiation, especially if it describes all the sins of impurity, and purports to harden children by exposure to the occasions of sin (Pius XI, Divini illius Magistri, Dec. 31, 1929, ActApS 21:297). It also opposes initiation that would exaggerate "beyond measure the importance and scope of the sexual element in life" and give it "the meaning and value of an end in itself" [Pius XII, Allocution to French Fathers of Families, Sept. 18, 1951; Discorsi a Radiomessaggi di Sua Santita Pio XII, 18 v. (Rome 1939-57) 13:241]. Catholic teaching favors prudent enlightenment, adapted to the age and sex of the child, truthfully anticipating their unspoken questions, which will avoid haphazard unpleasant shock and which is given in a total context of Christian morality and spiritual meaning (Pius XII, Allocution to Italian Mothers, Oct. 26, 1941, ActApS 33:450). Sexual hygiene must be taught from earliest infancy (see Pius XII ibid.).

As regards sexual technique for marriage preparation and in marriage counseling, the Church, while encouraging truly helpful information, is opposed to instructing in such detail that sexual pleasure seems made out to be an end in itself or capable of explaining all happiness or success in a pansexual way (Pius XII, Allocution to Midwives, Oct. 29, 1951; Allocution to the First International Congress of Histopathology, Sept. 13, 1952).

Good sex enlightenment should be gradually insinuated into the child's general education from the early years of understanding to maturity. It should be repeated as needed and should be reviewed at each new step in development. Instruction should meet each need of the growing child, and—since one cannot know exactly when a need will be felt—the need should be slightly

anticipated. Though it is not wise to be complete in all answers, sex instruction should always be truthful, positive rather than negative, and realistic in facing the body-soul nature of man. Because of the emotional impact and the individuality of needs, initial complete instruction should never be given publicly to a group (Sattler, 10-15, 45-55). By the time a boy has entered the seventh grade and a girl has entered the sixth grade, true (but not detailed) answers to the five fundamental queries of a child should have been answered. These concern: (1) the external bodily differences between the sexes; (2) the idea of pregnancy and birth; (3) the awareness of physical changes (e.g., menstruation and seminal emission; (4) the meaning of sexual passion; and (5) the fact of sexual intercourse (Sattler, 183-186).

All sex instruction should be imparted against the appropriate background of theological, moral, and psychological truth. The purpose of life, the nature of love, the meaning of marriage, the moral principles of chastity, the means to purity are all appropriate background material for "facts" (Sattler, 56-121).

School and Community Agencies. According to Catholic teaching, an individual teacher, priest, or doctor may, by delegation, explicit or implicit, supply parental initial instruction (Sattler, 37-42). Once initiation can be properly presumed, scientific knowledge that has some relation to these matters may be imparted by teachers or others, so long as no greater emphasis is given to it than to any other aspect of the science presented. For example, geography will refer to family customs of other peoples, religion will present the principles for the sixth and ninth Commandments, impediments to marriage, etc. In secondary schools, human physiology, sociology, and home economics will place reproductive facts within the context of the science as fully as needed for the wholeness of an unaccented presentation.

Premarital instruction and postmarital counseling are usually provided in modern marriage preparation courses [see H. V. Sattler, ed., Together in Christ (Washington, Family Life Bureau, NCWC, 1960)] in pre-Cana and Cana conferences, family life clinics, Catholic marriage counseling centers, by diocesan family life bureaus, and other agencies.

Bibliography: Historical development of Catholic thought. F. M. KIRSCH, Sex Education and Training in Chastity (New York 1930). Analysis of official teaching on the extent of sex enlightenment. J. E. L. KING, Sex Enlightenment and the Catholic (London 1944). Theological background. J. E. KERNS, The Theology of Marriage (New York 1964). V. WILKIN, The Image of God in Sex (New York 1955). General morals for parents and teachers. H. V. SATTLER, Parents, Children, and the Facts of Life (Paterson 1952). J. E. HALEY, Accent on Purity (South Bend 1948) . Parental reading with young children. R. P. ODENWALD, How God Made You (New York 1960); How You Were Born (New York 1963). General sex differences. L. F. CERVANTES, And God Made Man and Woman (Chicago 1959).

[H. V. SATTLER]