ARTICLES
FEBRUARY 2005 ARTICLES
Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
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Sex-Studying Zoologist
Movie Kinsey Reignites Debate about Controversial Scientist
BY PAUL HEWSON
In the late 1940s, a professor in Bloomington, Indiana set his "mental microscope" over the taboo subject of sex and initiated a firestorm of controversy that continues to this day. Now, over 50 years later, with the theatrical release of Fox Searchlight Pictures' Kinsey, many are turning their own mental microscopes over the legend and legacy of Dr. Alfred Kinsey.
Hailed by some as the man who helped liberate and educate a sexually-repressed society and reviled by others who believe he helped usher in a destructive sexual revolution, Kinsey began his sex research in 1938 when, as a Harvard-trained professor of zoology, he agreed to teach a course for students who were married or considering marriage at Indiana University. According to the Kinsey Institute's web page about the institute's origin, "in preparing for the course, Dr. Kinsey discovered few scientific data existed on human sexual behavior. What studies did exist were in general either extremely value-laden or based on very small numbers of clinical patients so Dr. Kinsey began collecting his own data. Eventually he and his research associates obtained more than 18,000 sexual histories based on in-depth, face-to-face interviews."
In 1947, the Kinsey Institute was founded, and in 1948, Kinsey published his findings in the landmark Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Five years later, he published Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. He died in 1956 at the age of 62.
Jennifer Bass, the head of information services at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute, spoke about Kinsey's research. "An important principle to take from the early Kinsey studies is the huge individual variation found which called into question the previous idea that there was a single 'normal ' pattern of sexual behavior," she said. "All human beings experience sexuality, but how, when, and to whom we respond is more significant than some idea of an average or usual sexual life." Bass believes Kinsey and his works were controversial because "presenting sexual behavior, especially in women, was unheard of and so was presenting a variety of sexual behaviors, including same-sex sex." Kinsey's research included findings on many topics including coitus, extramarital sex, masturbation, bisexuality, homosexuality, orgasms, and anal sex.
It is precisely these findings that half a century later continue to draw harsh criticism. Some argue that Kinsey's methods of research were fraudulent and, therefore, produced erroneous results. According to Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute and the writer/director of the documentary The Children of Table 34, Kinsey had a "tremendous impact on our culture — and not for the better." He added, "Kinsey is controversial because he was unmasked as an ideologue more than a scientist. This is shown in Dr. Judith Reisman's book, Kinsey, Sex and Fraud. Kinsey lied. Up to a quarter of the sampled men in his research were criminals, many of them sex offenders."
"Kinsey could rightfully be called the godfather of the sexual revolution," contends Knight. "Kinsey's two books paved the way for the spread of pornography, abortion on demand, and the homosexual activist movement. These groups owe him a great debt because he gave the excuse that it's OK to engage in sexual misconduct. Kinsey believed there was no right or wrong when it came to sex. He said there is nothing normal."
Knight believes the most disturbing aspect of Kinsey's studies is the child sex research. "Kinsey aided and abetted child molestation by encouraging pedophiles to continue molesting kids and sending them the data on such activity," he said. "Kinsey used criminally-obtained data to concoct the theory that children are sexual beings from birth. This information was published in the Male volume in four graph tables — Tables 31 to 34. Even today these tables are shocking. For instance, Table 34 alleges that a four-year-old boy had 26 orgasms in a 24-hour period. This means the child was molested around the clock."
Bass denies such allegations. "Kinsey did not train, participate, or encourage pedophilia or any other kind of behavior," she said. "He recorded what people told him, all with confidentiality guaranteed. This applied to everyone, including pedophiles, people having sex outside of marriage, homosexuals, people who had extramarital affairs. Many of these were illegal behaviors in the 1950s, so all were heard in confidence."
Regarding the collection of childhood data, the Kinsey Institute states on its website that "the bulk of this information was obtained from adults recalling their own childhoods. Some was from parents who had observed their children, some from teachers who had observed children interacting or behaving sexually, and Kinsey stated that there were nine men who he had interviewed who had sexual experiences with children who had told him about how the children had responded and acted. We believe that one of those men was the source of the data listed in the book."
Kinsey encouraged colleagues to engage in controversial sexual activities such as wife-swapping, and Kinsey himself engaged in homosexual experimentation. Award-winning author and USC professor T.C. Boyle, whose new book, The Inner Circle, deals with Kinsey and his sex research, addressed such practices in the November 28, 2004 Los Angeles Times Magazine: "His employees had to kowtow to him. It was a kind of religion, a cult. They had to subscribe fully. The wife-swapping and different sexual things they did that he encouraged — and almost insisted on — were put to them this way: 'If you're truly liberated, how could you not want to do this?'"
Regarding such practices, Bass said the Kinsey Institute "does not have a position on this." She added, "this is not in the public record and not critical to our understanding of the research institute that continues."
According to the Kinsey Institute's web page about the film, "we don't know everything about the intimacies of Alfred Kinsey's life (we leave that to the biographers), but we do know that he and his staff wanted to understand the variety of human sexual behavior. They didn't have a road map for doing this kind of investigation, with specific procedures and consent forms like we do today, but tried different ways to learn about behavior, always with strict concern for confidentiality."
Bill Condon, the homosexual writer and director of the film Kinsey, himself believes that Kinsey was a "very complex man." In an Associated Press article, Condon stated that Kinsey's research is open to criticism but said that those denouncing his film were "confusing discussion with endorsement." Said Condon, "their real aim, by maligning and destroying his reputation, is to pretend that the last 50 years didn't happen. Kinsey affected everybody's life, and I hope the film gets a little breathing room for people to see it and think about it for themselves."
Regarding the film, Knight believes it to be a "well-done piece of propaganda" and rife with serious distortions and omissions. "The movie seems to show some of Kinsey's flaws while making him look like a hero who liberated the world from its sexual hang-ups," he said. "For example, the film shows Kinsey being seduced into homosexual sex by his colleague Clyde Martin, and it shows it be a brief departure from his normal life as a heterosexual married man. In truth, Kinsey seduced Clyde Martin and had an insatiable appetite for young men." Knight added, "Kinsey was a sadomasochistic homosexual. The best evidence of this is in James Jones' book, Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life. The movie also does not show the very serious methodological problems in Kinsey's research."
Over fifty years later, the debate goes on about the influence of Kinsey and the impact of his studies on the country.
Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, believes that, although there was an unjustified stigma attached to sex during Kinsey's time, Kinsey did far more harm than good. "Some individuals did have an unhealthy shame and fear about sex," said Peters, "but, morally speaking, Kinsey was a madman. He came to the conclusion that morality was a human construct. He believed morality was for the birds. He was a key figure in starting the sexual revolution."
However, in the Associated Press article, Adrienne Verrilli, a spokeswoman for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, stated that the sexual revolution of the '60s would have happened even without Kinsey. She mentioned that other forces were at work, too: the increasing availability of the birth control pill, the rising popularity of Playboy magazine, and the growing feminist movement.
Knight acknowledges that Kinsey was instrumental in opening up the field of study of human sexuality but believes his studies have no redemptive value. "Most sex education courses work on the Kinsey model," he said. "That's why they're non-judgmental, non-directional, and destroy children's innocence at the earliest opportunity." He added, "Kinsey set out to prove that nothing is normal, and he got the results he wanted."
Today the Kinsey Institute continues what Kinsey began but with some differences. "We study problems related to sexuality, and why people do what they do," said Bass. "This contrasts with Kinsey, who was documenting what people said they did in their homes and in private. We are more interested today in the role of emotions, the mind and the body, to help explain sexual behavior and to give insights into solutions for public health prevention, and to aid individuals and couples who are in distress about their sexuality or sexual health."