The African American Parent - Rethinking Sexual Health Communication #893903

Dr. Jenny Reed, author and researcher behind The African American Parent: Rethinking Sex Education, is a social worker and African American evangelical Christian with over 25 years of experience in public health and child welfare. Throughout her career, she has conducted numerous interviews with individuals connected to the child welfare system—foster parents, abused children, alleged perpetrators, pregnant teens, and young mothers. These conversations were often sex-negative in tone and revealed a striking pattern: highly religious African American parents rarely engaged in open, informed discussions about sex with their children.

Dr. Reed recognized that religious culture plays a central role in how African American families approach sexual health, often emphasizing silence, shame, or abstinence over education and open dialogue. This cultural dynamic, she observed, sometimes hinders teens from developing healthy, informed sexual behaviors. While Dr. Reed initially attributed her own limited sex education to being raised in a conservative, baby boomer era, her research confirmed that minimal parent-teen communication persists even in today's information age, reinforcing generational cycles of misinformation and poor outcomes.

In her public health role, Dr. Reed witnessed firsthand the negative consequences of these communication gaps. Many teens made risky sexual decisions—such as not using contraception—due to a lack of guidance from their parents. The cycle of teen pregnancy, particularly among African American youth, continued without interruption. Motivated by these experiences, Dr. Reed turned her attention to exploring how faith, morality, and sex education intersect within the African American evangelical community.