Liberation through science: Karl Evang as sex educator.

Abstract

Karl Evang's (1902-1981) efforts with regard to sex education in Norway are well documented, in particular his work in the interwar period, as an initiator and co-editor of Populært Tidsskrift for Seksuell Oplysning (Popular Journal for Sex Education) (1932-1935). This article takes Evang's work in the 1930s as its starting point, but emphasises his role in promoting sex education in schools after the war. The main sources for the article are Evang's popular science texts on sex education as well as archive material that shows Evang's role in school policy. Searches have also been conducted in newspaper databases and in the journal. The text builds on research on Populært Tidsskrift and on the teaching of sex education in Norwegian schools undertaken by the author of this article. Karl Evang worked to promote sex education in Norway. His professional and ideological efforts in this regard in the interwar period are well documented, but he was also committed to this cause as Norway's director general of health in the post-war years. Evang regarded the teaching in schools as a particularly important tool for health-promoting knowledge about sexuality in the population, and he helped to place sex education in schools on the agenda after the war. Through his professional and political networks, he was perhaps the most important driver of sex education in Norway, in the decades before as well as after the war.