Teaching and Preaching Sexual Morality: The New Right's Anti-Feminism in Britain and the U.S.A.

Abstract

This paper explores the subtle transformation of the education system and its relationship to families that has been set in train by the policies of the New Right, in both Britain and the U.S.A. It argues that the attempts to “reprivatise” families through both reductions in state intervention and the teaching or preaching of a narrow sexual morality are fundamentally antifeminist. Through a review of the policies of the New Right, whether as pressure groups or government, it demonstrates the nature of the shift in the relationship between schools and families. It highlights both changes in formal schooling and informal “teaching” provided by voluntary or religious bodies and especially “volunteer” unpaid workers. It thereby demonstrates the shifts in the character of women's work as housewives, mothers, and teachers and their implications for what girls learn about their future work as wives and mothers. It argues against the current celebration of women's unpaid “voluntary” work.

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