Contraception in the Classroom

Abstract

This article traces the history of Straight Talk, a sex education curriculum introduced into U.S. high schools in the mid‐1980s. Straight Talk was sponsored by Ortho Pharmaceutical, who offered the program as a “public service” to combat the so‐called epidemic of teenage pregnancy that had inspired panic on both sides of the political spectrum. In fact, Straight Talk was part of a campaign to promote Ortho’s newest product: the low‐dose, multiphasic pill Ortho‐Novum 7/7/7. Drawing on media reports, curricular materials and public relations (PR) documents, I argue that Straight Talk is a prime example of “shadow marketing” in the pharmaceutical industry, in which companies use PR strategies to skirt regulations on direct‐to‐consumer advertising. While on the surface Straight Talk looked like a typical comprehensive sex education curriculum, its bias toward the Pill—in particular, the low‐dose multiphasic pill—belied Ortho’s claims of neutrality. The curriculum’s promotion of the Pill also came at the expense of other contraceptive methods, such as the condom, a troubling omission in the age of HIV/AIDS.