Storied Sex: U.S. Sex Education Films in Sweden, 1925-1933

Activist Elise Ottesen-Jensen founded the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU—Riksförbundet för sexuell upplysning) in 1933; by that time she had been corresponding with American birth control activist Margaret Sanger for several years and had established a strong working relationship with Sanger. In this paper I trace the build-up of Ottesen-Jensen’s sex education work prior to the founding of RFSU. I examine three borders—geographical, ideological, and educational—to show how conversations on sex instruction that occurred in the United States during the early- to mid-1920s begin arising in Sweden at the turn of the decade and helped secure moral support for RFSU’s existence. First films traversed geographical borders, from the United States to Sweden, including the well-received film Motherhood: Life’s Greatest Miracle (1927, Moderskap). Second, films crossed ideological borders. While previously exported American sex instruction films contained messages on birth control and abortions, these newer films examined the consequences of drinking and drugs and filmmakers targeted them to younger audiences. Third, sex instruction films began to enter Swedish school systems, moving from public theaters, thus intersection the educational border. In 1928, elementary school teacher Sven Karlung deemed sex education “the most delicate subject” but argued it needed to be taught in schools through the use of film; the schoolteacher praised film as a medium for education. I contend that the years leading up to RFSU’s founding were formative for the transnational relationship of sex education and its films between the United States and Sweden.