Stefania Siedlecky | Sex Education in New South Wales: The Growing Up Film Series | Health and History, 8.2

Sex Education in New South Wales: The Growing Up Film Series

Stefania Siedlecky

Growing Up was a series of six short sex education films made by Film Australia in 1977. At that time, a number of organisations in New South Wales advocated the introduction of sex education in schools. The aim of the series was to encourage discussion among teenagers themselves to enable them to appraise situations they could face as they moved through their teenage years. Not surprisingly, this and other initiatives in the field of sex education aroused considerable opposition.

Generally, Sex Education is placed under less confronting headings such as Family Life Education, Personal Development Programmes, and Education for Life. Over the last century, parents have worried about questions related to sex education: what, when, and how to teach children about sex and reproduction. Too often children acquired knowledge of these matters through ill-informed peers, adult magazines, and gossip 'behind the shed.' Many parents have been too embarrassed to discuss sex and reproduction with their children; mentioning contraception has long been taboo as well for fear that it would encourage adolescents to experiment with sex prematurely. Schoolteachers, doctors, and public health educators have planned a variety of means to develop sex education programs which would not offend public sensitivities but would provide young people with essential information. This has not always been an easy task.

From the 1930s onward, sex education was advocated in Australia by the Racial Hygiene Association, a small organisation which later became the Family Planning Association of Australia (FPAA), as a means to combat venereal disease and unplanned pregnancies. Organisations such as the Father and Son Movement and the Mother and Daughter Movement (later the Family Life Movement (FLM)) organised extracurricular classes to groups of parents and children. These were all limited in scope: they were not part of the curriculum, they were run by outside volunteers on a casual basis, and they only reached a few schools. The Growing Up film series was more ambitious. The series could be purchased or hired from the Department of Education and shown in high schools all over the country as part of the school's curriculum. In this way, it could potentially reach a great number of young people. In this article, I discuss the development of the film series as a health education tool, the controversies it created, and the opposition it encountered.

Background

The 1970s were particularly active years in the area of sex education in Australia and a number of initiatives were undertaken. The introduction of the contraceptive Pill in the early 1960s brought the discussion of contraception into the open, and articles debating the Pill and the morality of contraception appeared in many local papers and magazines. In addition, teenage births reached a peak in Australia in 1971, and ex-nuptial teenage births in 1972. While doctors were prepared to treat teenage girls who were pregnant or had sexually transmitted diseases, they had a certain reluctance to provide them with contraceptive advice. In 1971, the FPAA announced in its Annual report for the first time that their services included 'help with birth control for everyone over the age of consent, married or unmarried, male or female.' ¹ The same year, the Council of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) ruled that it was

the inalienable right of any doctor to prescribe what he considers to be in the best interests of his patient. Although it is realised that the prescription of oral contraceptives to unmarried minors poses a special problem, both moral and sometimes legal, it is considered that there is no need for a special ethical rule. … the ultimate decision should be left to the individual doctor's conscience. ²

Despite this ruling, there was considerable controversy in the columns of the Medical Journal of Australia during the 1970s about whether doctors should prescribe the Pill to single women and minors. ³ Up to 1973, the age of majority was 21. A number of doctors equated prescribing contraceptives to a young woman before the age of consent with aiding and abetting the crime of carnal knowledge. As a consequence, the question of sex education became more urgent.

During 1971, the Marriage Guidance Council of New South Wales (MGC), concerned with promoting marital harmony and preventing marital breakdown, held discussions with the New South Wales Department of Health, the Family Life Movement (FLM), Catholic Family Welfare Bureau, and the New South Wales Department of Education about providing sex education in public schools. Their aim was to develop and improve their work in Family Life Education. In November of that year they called a strategic planning meeting to which ninety organisations were invited to send representatives. ⁴

In April 1972 the NSW Department of Education organised a seminar on Sex Education, which brought together about 200 students from 150 schools throughout NSW. The students were encouraged to read up on the subject and discuss it with parents and teachers prior to the seminar. A sub-committee of eleven students drew up a final report with recommendations on what sex education should comprise, who should teach it, and how it should be presented. ⁵ They recommended, among other things, that sex education should be part of the school timetable; that it should begin in primary school and continue through secondary school; that teachers should be provided with training in the various subjects; and that it should cover all aspects of sexuality and reproduction. Their list was all-encompassing, and included puberty, childbirth, sexual behaviour patterns, contraception, venereal disease, homosexuality, rape, pornography, legal aspects of sex and procreation, marriage, divorce, adoption, and sex in advertising. They also recommended that parents be involved and outside groups be invited to contribute to special topics and in post-school programs.

In July 1972, Rev. W.G. Coughlan of the FLM prepared a comprehensive list of publications, mainly from overseas sources, on sex and sex education. The list, around 300 articles in all, included material for parents and teachers, books for children graded by age groups, and publications with a religious orientation. He listed twelve source organisations in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and three in Australia. ⁶ Subsequently, family planning organisations in each state developed educational material and ran training courses for clients, doctors, nurses, teachers, and high school students. Also in 1972, a special Teacher Guide for Health Education in NSW Schools was prepared jointly by the NSW Departments of Health and Education. ⁷ It covered three areas in detail: Sociology of the Family, Growth and Development, and Human Sexuality. It also outlined a Teaching Programme on Family Life. In addition, it also listed fifteen sex education films which were available from the NSW Department of Health Film Library, with guidelines for the use of films in the classroom.

In October 1972, the Department of Education hosted a follow-up Seminar on Family Life Education in Sydney, in collaboration with the Marriage Guidance Council of NSW (MGC); the FLM; the Parent Education Programming Association (PEPA); the Adolescent Education Committee (AEC: a group of volunteers who ran courses in private schools); the Youth Education Seminars (YES); and the Division of Health Education, NSW Department of Health. ⁸ Interested parents and educators attended. The speakers and topics at this occasion were:

� Hon. A.H. Jago MLA, Minister for Health

� Mr. John Robson (FLM): Keynote Report—Statement on the Basic Needs in Family Life Education

� Dr. Claire Isbister (AEC): The Family—Past, Present and Future

� Mr. Ken Rogers (YES): Family Life and the Education of the Adolescent

� Mrs. Margaret Birkett (MGC): Educating for Marriage

� Dr. Bruce Kendall (PEPA): Educating for Parenthood

� Mr. Mike Douse (NSW Department of Health): Possible Areas of Practical Co-operation

There was heavy emphasis on the family, education for parenthood, morality, and responsibility. It was also discussed who should teach what and how teachers ought to be trained. Interestingly, the speakers were far more restrained in their choice of subjects than the students had been.

In March 1974, the NSW Minister for Education, Mr. E. Willis, released a Statement of Principles, entitled Personal Development in Secondary Schools: The Place of Sex Education, which summarised the opinions of a developmental committee and community discussions. It emphasised the need for cooperation between parents and schools, and the inclusion of sex education in a wider frame of personal development including biological aspects, family life, social aspects, and health. ⁹

During the 1970s, a number of schools introduced programs, which were voluntary on the part of both teachers and pupils and the subject was still highly controversial. I recall attending a Parents and Citizens meeting at my son's prestigious high school in Sydney when a letter had been received from the FLM offering to run a sex education Father and Son Night. Parents debated whether the school would agree to such a course for the boys and parents. At the time, I was one of the 'enthusiastic' volunteers working with a sex education team at Family Planning NSW and had been involved in courses at a number of public high schools. I therefore suggested that my team could be invited to speak at the school. Some parents angrily rejected the idea and insisted that only parents could instruct their children. Not surprisingly, the suggestions were refused. The tension was so high that, after the meeting, the (then) acting headmaster came up to me and commented that I might as well know that in his opinion 'school is no place for teaching boys how to fuck,' language I do not think he would have ordinarily used in a conversation with a mature woman doctor and parent. The same year, a boy from year 12 at this school made his girlfriend pregnant. His parents suggested an abortion, which the girl's parents strongly rejected. The relationship broke up. The girl finished her final year doing lessons at home and sat successfully for her Higher School Certificate. She developed toxaemia of pregnancy, had to have a caesarean section, and lost the baby; a tragic introduction to adult life.

About this time in the women's hospital where I worked in gynaecology, I was asked to take over the nurses' lectures in that subject. I found that the nurses' course notes did not include any information on sex or contraception, which was surprising for a hospital which had a major venereal diseases clinic. When I gave talks to nurses in other hospitals, I was told that, in some schools, the sections on reproduction in Harry Messel's new science textbook had been removed. Sex education clearly was a topic which still attracted strong taboos and decided opposition.

The Whitlam government

In 1972 the Whitlam government came to power and in the first few months it established the first Commonwealth Government Family Planning Program. Starting in 1973, the federal government provided funds to the Australian Federation of Family Planning Associations, the Catholic Social Welfare Committee, and several international family planning organisations; removed the sales tax on contraceptives; put the Pill on the Pharmaceutical Benefits List; added abortion to the services covered by health insurance (and later Medibank); removed the ban on contraceptive advertising in the ACT; and lowered the age of legal maturity from 21 to 18 years. Funds were set aside for doctor education, research, and assistance to 'other' organisations. Education programs for all health professionals, the general community, and school pupils were considered to be a priority. I was fortunate enough to be appointed as consultant to the planning Program and, later, to become its Senior Adviser in Family Planning and Women's Health. Under the Program, grants were made to the FLM (1973) and the Family Planning Association, South Australia (1975) to make films for family life education. ¹⁰ At the time, most films only dealt with the biological aspects of anatomy, menstruation, sexual maturity, pregnancy, venereal disease, reproduction, and contraception.

The 1977 Royal Commission on Human Relationships dealt in some detail with the question of sex education in schools. ¹¹ There were divided opinions as to whether sex education belonged in the home or in the school. Some people were concerned that it might lead to sexual experimentation and promiscuity. The recommendations of the Commission included government involvement, parent and child education programs, special training for teachers, and cooperation with voluntary associations. They also recommended that minors should have access to confidential medical care, including contraceptive advice, down to age 14 or even earlier, where the individual minor was considered to be mature enough to make an informed decision, where it was in the minor's best interest, and where it was impracticable to obtain parental consent. ¹²

Clearly, during the 1970s attitudes towards sex education and contraception were changing. It was against this background that Film Australia decided to make the film series Growing Up (1977). ¹³

The Growing Up Series

In the early 1970s, Film Australia had made an innovative series of 10 short films called Why Can't They Be Like Us? under their successful Social Education Materials Project (SEMP). These films were designed to stimulate classroom discussion on a wide range of social issues relating to contemporary adolescent experiences. They were aimed at middle and upper level secondary students in social studies, humanities, and integrated study programs. Following the success of this series, in 1976 the producer Tom Manefield suggested making a follow-up series on sex education. ¹⁴ Preliminary discussions were held with groups involved in sex and health education, including the Biology Resources Centre in Melbourne, the Commonwealth Department of Health, and Family Planning Associations. While the Commonwealth Department of Health (by now under a Liberal government) was reluctant to commit to funding, it was agreed that I, as Adviser in Family Planning and Women's Health, would assist in an advisory capacity. The education advisers indicated a preference for an open-ended, stimulus-based technique and for short films that would allow for full discussion on controversial issues faced by teenagers. They considered it unwise to allow factual misconceptions to go uncorrected, and they recommended that printed support material should accompany the films. The topics originally planned were based on the student survey choices: teenage mothers, abortion, contraception, homosexuality, venereal disease (VD), and weekend scoring. In the end VD was not included. It was the first time any sex education films had included homosexuality.

To recruit volunteers to participate in the films, various schools and organisations were approached, including a nightclub frequented by young people. Appropriate permissions had to be obtained and all participants had to be fully informed before agreeing to be filmed. The film series aimed to present teenagers discussing sexual issues by themselves rather than lectures by doctors and other figures in a position of authority. This, it was thought, would make the films much more effective in stimulating discussion in the classes.

FPA educator Wendy McCarthy; Delys Sargent, Director of the Social Biology Resources Centre at Melbourne University; and I, representing the Commonwealth Department of Health, acted as an advisory panel for the proposed series, which was given the title Growing Up. ¹⁵ These were to be different from the usual run of sex education films. They were intended to be discussion starters for senior students and teachers, situational and not didactic, they did not concentrate on anatomy and biology, and there was no moralising. The aim was to use a 'living camera' technique. The films were unscripted and consisted of interviews with real participants filmed on the spot. No professional actors were involved. There was some discussion over how the participants might feel when they saw themselves on the screen and their right to veto certain takes. For each of the six short films, there were some 4-6 hours of footage to be viewed in order to select appropriate sections. All films were produced by Tom Manefield. Two films, Disco and Brad, were directed by Phil Noyce, the remaining four by Jan Sharp. Each film storage can included information about the particular topic and advice to teachers about possible points for discussion. The Social Biology Resources Centre agreed to prepare reading material and discussion notes to accompany the films.

Prior to their release, the films were widely previewed by appropriate groups in all states. According to the Film Australia archival notes, their project officer reported that they were seen by around 1900 people, with 78% completing a questionnaire on their impressions. In general, 75% of reactions were positive, 8% contained some reservations, and 15% were outright negative. Negative comments included that these films might provide a model for bad behaviour in teenagers and encourage bad attitudes. In addition, others thought that the films were too superficial, condoned sexual behaviour as well as perversion. Positive comments included acclaim for the realistic nature of the films. They were considered useful and informative, and there were few suggestions that they be restricted. Peter Trebilco, then education officer in the Division of Health Education at the NSW Health Commission, thought they were very useful for health education. ¹⁶ The Family Planning Association educators agreed.

Synopsis of the six movies

The stories represented in the six short movies aimed to show teenagers discussing problems around sexuality in their own terms. The following is a brief synopsis of the six films, based on notes from Film Australia and from viewing the films. ¹⁷

Disco

This film explores the social and sexual expectations and attitudes of teenagers attending a disco. Their perceptions of male and female roles, and the similarities and differences between the two, are portrayed through their behaviour, conversation, and dress. The two groups, boys and girls, were not previously known to each other. They were interviewed separately preparing to go to the disco, and dancing and mingling with other groups.

Kerry

Kerry, aged 15, leaves home to go with her boyfriend to Queensland. When she becomes pregnant she feels she cannot cope on her own and the two return to their respective families in Sydney. Her family is opposed to abortion. The boy and his family are unwilling for the pair to marry. The pair split up. The film shows Kerry and her family looking at baby clothes and toys, and Kerry and another young pregnant woman visiting an older woman in a labour ward and seeing a newborn baby in the nursery. Kerry's parents are interviewed. The film considers some of the effects that pregnancy and the decision to keep the baby have on Kerry's relationship with her family and her boyfriend.

Wendy

Wendy is a schoolgirl who discovers that she is pregnant. Her boyfriend works in a local hardware store. Wendy has an abortion. The film reveals her feelings before and after the operation and examines the attitudes of her mother and her boyfriend, and how the decision was made. Wendy is seen talking with the counsellor about her experiences. Wendy emphasises the importance of communication in teenage relationships.

Weekend

The film follows a group of teenagers in Lithgow over a weekend, starting with the school assembly on a Friday, following the group in the evening to a pool room in the town. They are shown in the daytime skylarking around a rock pool, drinking beer, smoking, and swimming. The boys discuss their ideas about girls who have sex. A boy and a girl go off together on a motor bike. In the evening members of the group go to a concert by John Paul Young. The next day they assemble in the street and visit a milk bar, and again discuss dating and sex.

Jenny

This film is about a teenage girl who becomes involved in a lesbian relationship. The film explores the nature of the relationship, Jenny's perception of the lesbian scene, and how she thinks other people perceive her current 'lifestyle.'

Brad

Brad is a young man who realises he is homosexual. The film examines his feelings about homosexuality and the importance of his relationship with other men. It shows him at work and socialising. Brad looks forward to finding a loving partner. His mother also discusses her feelings about Brad's sexuality.

Controversy around the Growing Up Series

The Growing Up series stirred up considerable controversy. Complaints were made to Mr. Ralph Hunt, then federal minister for Health. In June 1977, in my absence, Mr. Hunt viewed the films at Parliament House in Canberra in the company of Senators Peter Baume and Shirley Walters, and senior staff members of the Department of Health. While Senator Walters called for the films to be banned, Senator Baume thought they were a 'useful resource in the right hands.' The deputy director of the Department of Health at the time told me later that he saw no reason for 'glorifying the aberrant.' ¹⁸ Mr. Hunt asked for comments from community groups including state and independent schools, parent organisations, and Family Planning Associations including Catholic Family Planning. Only one group, the NSW Parents Council for Educational Freedom, considered them unsuitable. The Department decided against funding the series.

The films were shown at the 1977 conference of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) and were also shown at overseas conferences. Except for some reservations about the two films on homosexuality, they were well received. In 1978 the series won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Silver Award for best documentary. However, a letter on file apologises that at the televised presentation ceremony the award was omitted from the program at the last moment, although it was included in the original text.

There were calls for the films to be banned from schools and they were banned in Queensland. Peter Trebilco recalls that his division at the NSW Health Commission held four copies which were constantly on loan to schools. Educators from Family Planning who used the films in education programs say they were very well received. The Victorian Department of Health Audio-Visual Education Centre reported an average borrowing rate of 78.6 per film for 1978.

A follow-up series, Let's Talk About It, was made by the NSW Department of Education, Family Planning NSW, and Film Australia, and was directed at primary schools. It attracted similar comment from groups opposed to sex education in schools. In 1982, Liberal Senator Robert Hill presented a petition in Federal Parliament signed by 20 people, urging that both film series be withdrawn from schools; that 'no more funding be made available to Film Australia for the production of sex education films in conjunction with the Family Planning Association'; and that 'an examination of the activities of the FPA in health and human relations studies in Australian schools be undertaken at an early date.' ¹⁹

Impact of the Growing Up Series

It is always difficult to measure the impact of one factor, such as the Growing Up film series, when many other factors are operating at the same time. The decline in teenage births during the 1970s is one indicator of the effects of improved sex education. Between 1971 and 1983, the age-specific fertility rates for Australian teenagers declined from the peak of 55 per 1000 women in 1971 to 27 per 1000. ²⁰ The decline was most marked among those who had married because of pregnancy. In the age group 15�19 years, births in the first 7 months of marriage declined from 22 to 4 per 1000 women. ²¹ Although the total teenage birth rates had declined by 50% there were now proportionally more ex-nuptial births as fewer young women chose marriage. Also in those years, the law change on abortion in South Australia and the common law rulings in Victoria and New South Wales made abortion legally more available, reducing the number of teenage births.

No figures are available for the number of abortions carried out before these legal changes occurred and the early statistics may not reflect the true incidence of abortion. Only South Australia has kept records of abortion since 1970, but it may be assumed that the figures there are indicative of trends in Australia as a whole. The data indicate that the decline in total teenage pregnancies due to better contraceptive use was greater than the increase in abortions and was more responsible for the dramatic decline in teenage births. ²² While there were multiple factors responsible for these changes, it is most likely that better sex education and better information about and access to contraception played a major role. In this respect the Film Australia Growing Up Series certainly made a great contribution.

Macquarie University

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Film Australia for giving me access to the films and archival records on the making of the Series.

Notes

^1. Family Planning Association of Australia, Annual Report (Sydney, NSW: Family Planning of Australia, 1970�71).

^2. Australian Medical Association, Queensland Branch. News Bulletin, June 1971.

^3. Stefania Siedlecky and Diana Wyndham, Populate and Perish: Australian Women's Fight for Birth Control (Sydney, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 1990), chapter 2.

^4. John Robson, "Statement on the Basic Needs in Family Life Education (Draft Report)," in Family Life Education Seminar, draft report on seminar held in Sydney, 28 October 1972.

^5. Division of Health Education, NSW Department of Health, Sex Education: Recommendations by School Students, report prepared by students at schools in New South Wales for the Division of Health Education, New South Wales Department of Health, June 1972. Copy in author's possession.

^6. W.G. Coughlan, "Compilation: List of Books and Booklets Dealing With Sex and Sex Education, 1972," copy in author's possession.

^7. Helen Creighton, Teacher Guides for Health Education in NSW Schools, no.4: Family Life (Sydney, NSW: Department of Health and NSW Department of Education, 1972).

^8. Family Life Education Seminar (draft report).

^9. E. Willis, Personal Development in Secondary Schools—The Place of Sex Education (Sydney, NSW: NSW Department of Education, 1974).

^10. Stefania Siedlecky, "Family Planning in Australia, 1980," annual report for Australian Federation of Family Planning Associations Inc., Sydney, 1979�80.

^11. Royal Commission on Human Relationships (RCHR), Education for Human Relationships, Final Report, volume 2, part II (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service (AGPS), 1977), 75.

^12. Royal Commission on Human Relationships (RCHR), Education for Human Relationships, Final Report, volume 3 (Canberra: AGPS, 1977), 229.

^13. Growing Up, educational film series 1657, directed by Jan Sharp and Phillip Noyce (Sydney: Film Australia, 1977).

¹⁴ Notes from Film Australia's Growing Up series, 1977, Production Files, reference number FP30023, Film Australia, Sydney.

^15. Siedlecky and Wyndham, chapter 8.

^16. Peter Trebilco, personal communication with author, 2005; Notes from Film Australia's Growing Up series, 1977, Production Files, reference number FP30023 Film Australia, Sydney.

^17. The digital masters of the Growing Up series are stored in the vaults at Film Australia, Sydney. Film print viewing copies are held with the FPA archives at the NSW State Library. Four episodes of the series (Brad, Kerry, Weekend, and Wendy) are available to access for nonbroadcast viewing only, from the Film Australia Library, Sydney.

^18. Siedlecky and Wyndham, chapter 8.

^19. Ibid.

^20. Figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Births, various years, Cat. no. 3301.0, Australian Bureau of Sytatistics (ABS) (these are available in most city libraries and ABS offices or at http://www.abs.gov.au).

^21. Stefania Siedlecky, "Trends in Teenage Births: Dispelling Some Myths," New Doctor 38 (Summer 1985):14�19.

^22. Ibid

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