February 13, 1983

The co-founder of the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone ’25, former medical director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (1953-1964), came to the campus as the President’s Distinguished Visitor.

Dr. Calderone lectured on “Children and Parents as Sexual Beings” in the Chapel. Asserting that sexuality did not begin with puberty, she said, “It is possible today to state categorically that children feel and behave sexually even from before birth, and that from year one to year five, the development of sexual behavior and thinking will parallel closely the rapid development of language during the same years.”

During her visit Calderone spoke with Vassar classes and local community professionals, and she held an informal “tea talk,” during which she discussed the necessity of not teaching children that sexuality was “bad” and of explaining that it was a part of life with proper places and times for its expression.

The Miscellany News, The New York Times