IN PERSON: Health and Controversy: A History of Sex Education

Stowe Prize Series

IN PERSON: Health and Controversy: A History of Sex Education

February 12, 2025

Salons at Stowe: Stowe Prize Series

The Stowe Prize Series is an annual series around the themes of the Stowe Prize winning book.

FREE
77 Forest Street, Hartford
6:00 – 7:30 PM EST

Women’s health, sexual health, and topics related to gender and sexuality are threatened in school systems across the country, often by people who are less interested in the physical well-being of students and more guided by religious or conservative values. Restricting sex education, banning books on the topics of gender and sexuality, and the spread of misinformation negatively impact the physical, mental, and emotional health of students. This is nothing new, and the history of sex education has been contested since its beginning. Decisions about what to teach students about their bodies, gender, and sexuality reflect what society deems acceptable. Indeed, these decisions are much more influenced by the values of a society than by science.

Join Hartford-based health and sexuality educator, Kim Adamski, to discuss the storied history of sex education in America. Learn about this fascinating, at times infuriating, history, current topics that impact students, and the future of sex education. Kim will hold a conversation-based presentation and discussion on February 12, during Sex Education Week of Action. Talk about the issues, learn how to discuss sex education and support the students in your life, and connect with local resources to be involved and get informed.

REGISTER

Location Visitor Center

Doors Open

Program 6:00 - 7:30 PM

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2024

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

School name:

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Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

Group Name:

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Are there special accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Are you interested in a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.