Sexual Reform on a Scientific Basis
  In 1921, the Institute for Sexual Research organized the "First International Conference for Sexual Reform on a Scientific Basis"  1   2 . Respected scientists and sexual reformers, both women and men, expressed their opposition to State intervention in questions of "morals". They believed that sexual science created the basis for comprehensive reforms.

The scholars varied in their interpretations of particular phenomena, for example whether homosexuality was innate or acquired, but also in their attitudes towards certain reforms, such as the legalization of abortion.

The main achievement of the Congress was to create a network among the individual sexual reform movements. At the 2nd Congress in Copenhagen  3 , which did not take place until 1928, delegates made up for lost time and founded the "World League for Sexual Reform". Congresses in London (1929), Vienna (1930)  5  and Brno (1932)  4  followed.

The World League had its "central office" at the Institute, but the various national sections worked independently and with varying degrees of vigour. The German section was largely inactive. No fusion of the various discourses on sexual reform occurred.

In 1935, the League was disbanded, and the particularly active English section continued its work under a new name, the "Sex Education Society".


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