Answer's Organizational Timeline
Explore key moments in Answer's history as an organization.
1980
During Susan (Susie) N. Wilson’s tenure on the New Jersey State Board of Education (1977-1982), she asked what she thought was a simple question: “At what age should children start learning about how their bodies work?”
From that query, she was asked to spearhead a subcommittee on family life education, which evolved into a statewide mandate that required every school district to adopt a K-12 family life education policy.
From the beginning, Susie remained steadfast in her commitment—despite controversy—that young people everywhere need honest, accurate information when it comes to sex. That one question changed her life, and her dedication ever since has changed the lives of young people across the U.S.
1981
In February, the Network for Family Life Education was formed at the Rutgers School of Social Work, led by Roberta Knowlton, with a budget of $28,000. Network activities focused on training teachers, helping districts plan programs, soothing fears of concerned parents, and making sure the K-12 family life education policy mandate remained in place.
1982
Opponents of family life education turned to the courts after failing to defeat the mandate. In Smith v. Ricci, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously upheld the policy, and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Smith v. Brandt, was dismissed “for want of a substantial federal question.”
1984
One year after the mandate formally went into effect, Susie Wilson became the leader of the Network. During her 20-year tenure, under Susie’s vision and leadership, the Network grew from a single-focus state organization to a national leader in the promotion and provision of comprehensive sex education.
1987-1990
In the summer of 1987, the Network launched a newsletter, Family Life Matters, and by 1990, it was being distributed across the country, marking the first step in the Network assuming a national role. In 1990, it also released a video, Teaching Family Life Education: Five Teachers Show You How. These resources marked the Network’s growing appreciation for using media—print, video, and later, the internet—to accomplish its mission.
Also around this time, the HIV/AIDS epidemic entered the sex ed debate. The Network responded, conducting training programs across New Jersey for over 1,000 educators. In 1990, the state adopted a mandate requiring all public schools to provide HIV/AIDS education.
1993
Through the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the Network again faced legislative attempts to restrict the state’s family life education policy through legislation requiring a strong focus on abstinence. The Network not only continued to promote family life education but also sponsored several public policy initiatives, including Is Playing it Safe Unsafe?, a report detailing what was happening in classrooms and how programs could be improved. The same year, the Network released a report, Little Questions, Big Questions: The Case for Family Life Education in the Early Grades, which followed on the heels of Learning About Family Life, the nation’s first family life education curriculum for grades K-3.
1994
The inaugural issue of the Sex, Etc. newsletter—written by teens, for teens—was produced, with 30,000 copies distributed to New Jersey high schools that year. By 1996, the newsletter was distributed nationally.
1997
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (now called Power to Decide) honored the Network in a White House ceremony, citing its success in involving the voices of youth in the prevention of teen pregnancy.
1998
The Network published an analysis of teen pregnancy and what policy makers could do to reduce it in No Accident: Adolescent Pregnancy in New Jersey since 1988. The study built on 10 years of work by the New Jersey Task Force on Adolescent Pregnancy, which had been charged by the state legislature with developing recommendations for comprehensive programs for pregnant and parent teens and at-risk youth.
1999
On Valentine’s Day, the Sex, Etc. website, SexEtc.org, debuted. Originally intended as an archive for newsletter articles, the website was a hit. By the end of its first year, SexEtc.org received 6,000 unique visitors each day, and by 2005, it grew to 65,000.
This year also marked the adoption of revised New Jersey core curriculum content standards for Health and Physical Education, stipulating “progress indicators” for students by the end of grades four, eight, and 12. Originally released in 1996, these standards superseded the state board’s 1980 mandate and provided more substantive direction for curriculum.
The Network also amplified teen voices in developing The Roadmap: A Teen’s Guide to Changing Your School’s Sex Ed, a “student action kit” to help teens advocate for better sex education programs.
2001
The Network joined the Center for Applied Psychology, part of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers.
The Network also began a long-term collaboration with MTV.com and Kaiser Family Foundation in which teen writers contributed a monthly column to the MTV website. Collaborators with other mainstream media, including Teen People and Seventeen magazines, extended the Network’s reach.
Sex, Etc. received more national recognition when Advocates for Youth named it the winner of its first “Shining Star” award.
2002
A review of the Network’s training program helped to guarantee its success in helping teachers and other adults make a difference in the lives of young people. The assessment resulted in changes to the newly dubbed Sexuality Education Training Initiative, including the creation of an annual, residential Training Institute in Sexual Health Education (TISHE).
2004
Susie Wilson stepped down as the Network’s leader and remained involved as a senior advisor.
2005
SexEtc.org won two awards for excellence in presenting health information to teens: a World Wide Web Health Award in Health Promotion for content, creativity, and overall effectiveness in providing health-related information to adolescents, and the 2005 International Health & Medical Media Award, known as a FREDDIE, in the Adolescent Health category.
2006
After 25 years as the Network for Family Life Education, the organization was re-branded as Answer: Sex Ed, Honestly, reflecting its commitment to giving young people honest and accurate answers to their sexual health questions.
Along with the name change came a new look for Sex, Etc.’s magazine and website, as well as the launch of a new Answer website for parents and youth-serving professionals.
2007
In July, Answer, Advocates for Youth, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (now called SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change) launched the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) Initiative. FoSE aims to champion sex education and create conditions that prioritize and protect the well-being of all young people.
2008
Answer launched Sexuality ABCs: Abstinence, Birth Control, and Condoms, the first online professional development workshop in its series of dynamic, interactive, online workshops that increase educators’ knowledge of teen sexuality and sexual health.
2011
Answer celebrated its 30th anniversary with an event featuring speaker Dr. Ruth Westheimer, an internationally acclaimed sex therapist, author, and media personality.
2012
Answer, along with its FoSE partners, published the National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12. The standards established—for the first time ever—minimum, essential content and skills for sex education in grades K to 12.
The newly re-designed SexEtc.org launched in August, enabling young people to access honest, accurate sexual health information anytime and across a variety of devices.
2013
Answer won the Games for Change 2013 Game Design Competition sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Answer’s game concept was chosen for development as a prototype and led to the creation of Safer Sex Shuffle, a web-based game that educated players about using latex barriers to reduce their risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs.
2014
Answer, along with its FoSE partners, published the National Teacher Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education to help better prepare undergraduate students to deliver sex education. These standards provide guidance to programs within institutions of higher education that train health and physical education teachers who are often responsible for providing middle and high school sex education.
2015
Sex, Etc.’s social media reach continued to grow to over 300,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google Plus, and Instagram.
2016-2017
SexEtc.org continued to grow its online audience and reached 2.1 million people in the U.S. in 2016.
In fall 2016, Answer launched AMAZE.org in partnership with Advocates for Youth and Youth Tech Health. AMAZE produces online animated videos for young people age 10-14 about puberty, body image, identity, healthy relationships, and sexual health. The initial AMAZE videos garnered over two million views and nearly 15,000 subscribers to the AMAZE YouTube channel, quickly becoming a go-to resource for parents and educators.
Answer formed its inaugural National Advisory Board, meeting for the first time in March 2017.
Answer partnered with Cardea Services to develop Foundations, a standardized national model to deliver skills-based training for sex education teachers, which aims to make high-quality, affordable training accessible to teachers nationwide.
2018-2019
Answer celebrated Sex, Etc.’s 25th anniversary of providing honest, accurate sexual health information by teens, for teens. The magazine continued to be circulated to thousands of students in schools, health centers, and libraries across the country before sunsetting its physical distribution in 2021.
Through FoSE, Answer and its partners created the #SRAisAbstinenceOnly communications campaign, which reached three million people and educated the public and policymakers about abstinence-only programs’ re-branding as “sexual risk avoidance” (SRA). In June, FoSE and 13 partner organizations hosted a briefing in Washington, D.C., where sex educators, parents, and students shared their concerns with congressional staffers (representing 29 congressional offices) about the harm these programs can cause.
2020
Rutgers began offering a certificate program in Adolescent Sex Education Basics through Answer, consisting of eight online professional development workshops. This filled a widely unmet need for educators charged with teaching sex education who have no training in this specialized content area.
Through FoSE, Answer and its partners released the National Sex Education Standards, Second Edition in March 2020. The updated standards reflect the latest research and best practices in sex education to better incorporate LGBTQ-inclusivity, trauma-informed practices, intersectionality, and social, racial, and reproductive justice and equity.
The AMAZE audience continued to grow. By the end of June 2020, the AMAZE YouTube channel had 154,000 subscribers, and its videos had been viewed over 39 million times. As of 2021, AMAZE is solely a project of Advocates for Youth.
2022
Sex, Etc. created a TikTok account, expanding its social media reach with the popular video-based platform.
2024
Answer celebrated the 25th anniversary of SexEtc.org.
In continued partnership with Cardea Services, Answer expanded Foundations, the national skills-based training for sex education teachers, to include two new half-day modules on Practicing Sex Ed with Cultural Humility and Sex Ed for Students with Disabilities.