A Broad Sex Education

Content note: This mini-lesson discusses sexual assault, drugging, and institutional responses to sexual violence.

In this mini-lesson, Cin examines the allegations in the Cornell 7 case and reflects on how sexual violence can become a display of power among peers. She discusses the civil lawsuit, Cornell’s Title IX findings, the reopened criminal investigation, victim-blaming, and institutional accountability. She also considers the Central Park Five case and the uneven way society applies the presumption of innocence. The legal cases are ongoing, and allegations are distinguished from established findings.

Sources:

Cornell, Chi Phi Sued by Victim of Alleged Gang Rape, Drugging in 2024—The Cornell Daily Sun. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/09/tccsuykuvb4z

For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on RAINN.org.

Internationally, a worldwide list of directories is provided by UN Women, with national agencies on The Pixel Project.

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In Part 2 of our Hawaiʻi field trip, Cin and Asa explore three stops from the Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi trail: the Stones of Life at Kapaemahu, The Glade Show Club, and the Honolulu Pride Tree.

We talk about māhū history and Indigenous understandings of gender, the criminalization of gender expression, queer nightlife and community at The Glade, and how two women who loved women became permanently connected to Honolulu’s official Pride Tree.

Queer people have always existed, but who gets remembered? Whose stories get erased? And who gets to decide what becomes history?

• https://www.queerhistoriesofhawaii.org/
• https://www.bloombergconnects.org/

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Hawaiʻi wasn’t always part of the United States. It was a sovereign kingdom. And the story of how that kingdom ended is a lot messier than many of us were taught.

In Part 1 of our Hawaiʻi field trip, Cin and Asa trade the resort itinerary for a history lesson. We’re talking about the Kamehameha dynasty, King Kalākaua, the Bayonet Constitution, Queen Liliʻuokalani, and the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

We also share what we learned visiting ʻIolani Palace and Bishop Museum, some of our favorite food stops, and why taking time to understand the history and culture of a place can completely change the way you travel.

• Iolani Palace Website
• Bishop Museum
• Helena's Hawaiian Food
• Haleiwa Joe's Kaneohe
• Liliha Bakery

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In the 1800s, a pocket-sized book said sex was healthy, described the vulva, and told people how to prevent pregnancy. That was enough to put people on trial.

In this mini-lesson of A Broad Sex Education, Cin and Asa look at Fruits of Philosophy by Charles Knowlton, one of the most controversial early sex ed and birth control books. We talk anatomy, contraception, obscenity laws, and how one little book helped make birth control information public.

• Bradlaugh, Charles, Annie Besant, and Great Britain. High Court of Justice. King’s Bench Division. The Queen v. Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant : (Specially Reported). With Getty Research Institute. London : Freethought publishing company, 1877. http://archive.org/details/queenvcharlesbra00brad.
• EBSCO. “Bradlaugh v. The Queen | Law | Research Starters | EBSCOhost.” Accessed September 15, 2026. https://www.ebsco.com/.
• Eschner, Kat. “This Infamous 19th-Century Birth Control Pamphlet Got Its Writer Imprisoned.” Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed September 15, 2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/19th-century-birth-control-pamphlet-got-its-writer-imprisoned-180963140/.
• Knowlton, Charles. Fruits of Philosophy: An Essay on the Population Question. Freethought Pub. Co.?, 187 AD. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011529269.

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The birth control pill changed everything but its history is messier than you think.

In this episode of A Broad Sex Education, Cin and Asa explore the complicated history of the pill: Comstock laws, Margaret Sanger, Katharine McCormick, the scientists behind hormonal birth control, the Puerto Rico pill trials, FDA approval, and the court cases that helped make contraception legal.

Because the pill was more than just medicine.

• Hierlmaier, Zania E. The Creation of the Birth Control Pill: A Turning Point for American Women’s Education, Economics, and Role in Society. n.d.
• Johnson, R. Christian. “Feminism, Philanthropy and Science in the Development of The Oral Contraceptive Pill.” Pharmacy in History 19, no. 2 (1977): 63–78. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-katharine-dexter-mccormick-1875-1967/.
• Law School Data. Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) Overview | LSData Case Brief Video Summary. 2023. 01:54. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dyPuz0GM7k.
• “Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) | American Experience | PBS.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-margaret-sanger-1879-1966/.
• Mundt, Ingrid. Margaret Sanger, Taking a Stand for Birth Control. n.d. page,
• Genevieve Wanuchaarchive. “A Mind of Her Own.” MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2011/02/22/196980/a-mind-of-her-own/.
• Seelye, Katharine Q. “Overlooked No More: Katharine McCormick, Force Behind the Birth Control Pill.” New York Times (Online), New York Times Company, April 3, 2025. https://www.proquest.com/nytimes/docview/3185695015/citation/A41722821D564AE5PQ/1
• The Federalist Society. Griswold vs Connecticut [SCOTUSbrief]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GCkJygtosM.
• “The History & Impact of Planned Parenthood.” https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.
• “The History & Impact of Planned Parenthood.” https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history.
• “The Puerto Rico Pill Trials | American Experience | PBS.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/.

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Before the pill, people were still trying not to get pregnant and trying to avoid sexually transmitted infections.

In this episode of A Broad Sex Education, Cin and Brooklyn explore the history of non-hormonal birth control, from ancient condom-like methods and spermicides to sheep-gut condoms, syphilis prevention, wartime condom campaigns, and Thailand’s 100% Condom Use Program.

Because the desire to separate sex from pregnancy is ancient and honestly, some of the methods were wild.

• A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister

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Think you know birth control?

In this game-show style episode of A Broad Sex Education, Cin puts Asa and you to the test with a Birth Control 101 quiz. We cover condoms, the pill, IUDs, withdrawal, emergency contraception, fertility awareness, spermicide, vasectomies, and a few curveballs your high school health class probably skipped.

Play along, keep score, and see if you can beat Asa.

• https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control

Male Birth Control Methods

• https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-evaluate-effectiveness-male-contraceptive-skin-gel
• https://www.urologytimes.com/view/adam-a-long-term-injectable-male-birth-control-shows-promise-at-aua-2025

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In this mini-lesson, we’re starting the ABSE Birth Control Unit somewhere unexpected: Genesis 38. Cin shares a conversation with Brooklyn about the biblical story of Judah, Tamar, and Onan. This story is often used in arguments about masturbation, withdrawal, “spilling seed,” and birth control.

But when we look at the full story, it’s not just about semen. It’s about family duty, inheritance, religious morality, gender, power, and Tamar trying to secure her future in a system that gave her very few options.

This episode also includes an ABSE update: Cin is going back to school for her master’s in sexual health, and the podcast format is getting a refresh. Future lessons will be organized by subject, starting with a birth control unit.

Content notice: This episode discusses a biblical story involving sex, death, widowhood, pregnancy, inheritance, religious shame, and birth control stigma.

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In this Book Report special, Cin is joined by fellow Bookworm Baddie Brooklyn to discuss Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, a novel about a tradwife influencer, motherhood, marriage, gender roles, religious expectations, and the fantasy of returning to “simpler times.”

We start with a non-spoiler discussion of the book, Natalie as a character, tradwife influencer culture, and what the story says about identity, ambition, religion, and gender roles. Then we move into spoilers to talk about pronatalism, reproductive pressure, motherhood as performance, the manosphere, family control, class privilege, and the difference between romanticizing the past and actually having to live in it.

Content notice: This episode discusses pregnancy, reproductive pressure, emotional abuse or manipulation, gender-based violence, child neglect or abuse, religious pressure, and loss of autonomy. We give a clear spoiler warning before discussing major plot points and the ending.

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In Part 2 of “When Are You Having Kids? The Pressure to Procreate, Explained,” Cin is joined again by Asa and Brooklyn to continue the lesson on pronatalism: the policy, practice, or belief that encourages people to have children. This time, we move from personal baby pressure into the darker history of how reproduction becomes political.

We discuss “race suicide” panic, eugenics, white nationalism, Mussolini’s Battle for Births, Nazi motherhood medals, and how governments have used motherhood, birthrates, and family ideals as tools of nationalism, racism, and control. Then we look at the post-WWII nuclear family, the myth of the “traditional family,” the GI Bill, housing discrimination, gender roles, and how U.S. culture still celebrates babies while offering patchy support for parents.

This episode asks: when society says it wants more babies, who is being encouraged to reproduce, who is being controlled, and what would real reproductive agency actually require?

Content note: This episode discusses reproductive pressure, pregnancy, birth control and abortion access, infertility, eugenics, racism, white nationalism, fascism, forced or coerced reproduction, childfree stigma, and social pressure around parenthood.

• Sisters in Hate: American Women in the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seyward Darby (Book)
• Mosley, Tonya. “What’s behind the ‘pronatalist’ movement to boost the birth rate?” NPR / Fresh Air, April 30, 2025.
• Crays, Allyson. “The Rise of Pronatalism in the U.S.: The Risks to Reproductive and Sexual Health Outcomes.” O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown Law, August 14, 2025.
• Staff, National Women’s Law Center. “Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn’t Trust the Pronatalist Movement.” National Women’s Law Center, August 13, 2025.
• Forati, Rasadokht, and Deborah Bartz. “The Rise and Fall and Rise of Pronatalism: A Disingenuous Policy that Harms the Health of People and Society.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 53, no. 3, Fall 2025, pp. 435–443. Published online July 15, 2025.
• Kitchener, Caroline. “Trump Aides Solicit Ideas to Raise Birthrate, From Baby Bonuses to Fertility Planning.” The New York Times, April 21, 2025.
• Fischer, Howard. “Fascist Italy: The Battle for Births.” Hektoen International, Spring 2022.
• Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. “The Fascist Roots of the Far Right’s Obsession with Childlessness and Population Management.” Lucid, September 26, 2024.

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