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For more than 60 years, SIECUS has been at the forefront of the fight for sex education as a fundamental right. Our policy briefs translate the latest research into clear, actionable analysis — giving advocates the language they need, legislators the facts they can act on, and communities the knowledge they deserve. Browse our full library below and download any brief for free.
Same Shame, New Name
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change released Same Shame, New Name: Debunking the “Success Sequence”, a new policy brief examining the growing wave of state legislation requiring instruction on so-called “success sequencing” in public schools. Marketed as a pathway out of poverty, the “success sequence” repackages long-discredited abstinence-only ideology, reinforces harmful gender norms, stigmatizes LGBTQIA+ youth and marginalized families, and ignores the systemic barriers that shape young people’s lives and economic outcomes.
Read Same Shame, New Name here.
Sex Ed and Parental Consent
As of March 2026, 10 states have introduced legislation to make sex education opt-in. Opt-in policies restrict access to sex education by requiring parents to submit written permission before their child receives sex education. The result is students missing out on vital sexual health and abuse-prevention information, not because their parents object, but due to a policy that assumes non-participation as the default. “Sex Ed and Parental Consent” arrives at the height of attacks against sex education as a much-needed update to our 2018 policy paper.
Read Sex Ed and Parental Consent here.