"Why a Christian Sex Educator Invented Basketball"

The man who invented basketball, James Naismith, was also a leading Christian sex educator of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). In fact, he created basketball to fulfill a goal of sex education: to control adolescent sexual behavior. Naismith believed that sexual energy could be diverted into more wholesome physical activities like sports, thus preserving purity by keeping boys from committing sexual sins. Naismith’s approach was shared by others within the YMCA, a Protestant organization that became a leader in spreading sex education through its youth programs and work within the military. YMCAs developed their version of sex education based on the organization’s mission to shape the whole Christian man—body, mind, and spirit. This presentation will situate Naismith’s work within the context of YMCA sex education and the national movement for public sex education, demonstrating a significant way in which Protestants contributed to the development of sex education in America.