About Your Sexuality Kit

The About Your Sexuality Kit is credited to deryck calderwood, Ph.D (1923-1986). Dr. calderwood is the major writer of the About Your Sexuality Kit. He pioneered the first graduate program on sexual education at a university and was the Professor and Director of the Human Sexuality Program at New York University (New York, NY). The About Your Sexuality Kit was created with support and sponsorship of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Dr. calderwood was hired by the Unitarian Universalist Association on a three month contract to build a compilation of the best sex education resources for individuals age 12 to 14 to be distributed amongst the church. Upon finding that there were very few if any positive and informative sex education resources, Dr. calderwood took it upon himself to create resources that empowered young people instead of shaming their sexuality. The available materials shared detailed resources on disease, conception and birth control. There were little to no resources on basic expressions of sexuality such as petting, masturbation, homosexuality and love making. The first edition of the About Your Sexuality Kit was published in 1971. The About Your Sexuality Kit encouraged exploration and curiosity. It is inclusive of the experiences of different genders and positively discusses homosexuality.

There were two court cases about the obscenity of the imagery included, but both were ruled in favor of the About Your Sexuality Kit as an educational resource. The About Your Sexuality Kit was designed with the help and resources from dozens of individuals within and outside of the Unitarian Universalist Association, especially Hugo J. Holleroth, the Director of Curriculum Development in the Department of Education and Social Concern at the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston Massachusetts. Dr. calderwood went on to serve on the board of directors for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Community Sex Information, Coalition on Sexuality and Disability and the Sex Information and Education Council of the U.S. The About Your Sexuality Kit was distributed to a variety of organizations including Unitarian Universalist organizations but also public and private secondary schools, colleges and universities, government agencies and private agencies like Planned Parenthood. The collection is a significant and comprehensive compilation of ideas on human sexuality from the 1970s and 1980s.