Difference between revisions of "Kinsey Reports"

Revision as of 00:41, 8 May 2006 (edit) X (Talk | contribs) (from wikipedia)		Latest revision as of 02:02, 20 January 2011 (edit) (undo) Anarchangel (Talk | contribs) (Cats)
(7 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	The '''Kinsey Reports''' are two books on human sexual behavior, '''''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male''''' (1948) and '''''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female''''' (1953), by Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others. Kinsey was a [[zoologist]] at the [[Indiana University at Bloomington]] and the founder of the Institute for Sex Research.	+	[[File:Kinsey Scale.gif|thumb|Kinsey's scale of heterosexual and homosexual responses, as outlined in Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)]]
		+	The '''Kinsey Reports''' are two books on [[human sexual behavior]], '''''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'''''<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=pfMKrY3VvigC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false Sexual Behavior in the Human Male], ISBN 978-0253334121.</ref> (1948) and '''''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'''''<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=9GpBB61LV14C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false Sexual Behavior in the Human Female], [[Alfred Kinsey|Kinsey, A.]]; [[Wardell Pomeroy|Pomeroy, W.]]; [[Clyde Martin|Martin, C.]], & [[Paul Gebhard|Gebhard, P.]], Philadelphia: Saunders (1953), ISBN 978-0253334114.</ref> (1953), by [[Alfred Kinsey|Dr. Alfred Kinsey]], [[Wardell Pomeroy]] and others and published by [[Saunders (publisher)|Saunders]]. Kinsey was a [[zoologist]] at [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana University]] and the founder of the [[Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction]] (more widely known as the Kinsey Institute).
−	The [[research]] astounded the general public and was immediately controversial and sensational.	+	The ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' was based on personal interviews with nearly 6,000 women. Kinsey analyzed data on the frequency with which women participate in various types of sexual activity and looked at how factors such as age, social-economic status and religious adherence influence sexual behavior. Comparisons are made of female and male sexual activities. Kinsey's evidence suggested that women were less sexually active than men in all aspects of sexual life but that they were still more sexual than traditional views allowed. By the time the book on female sexuality was published, it appeared that Kinsey seemed to feel that women and men are more alike in the biology of their sexuality than he had previously thought, and that both men's and women's sexuality seemed shaped, not merely repressed, by social and cultural forces.
−	The findings caused shock and outrage, both because they challenged conventional beliefs about [[sexuality]] and because they discussed subjects that had previously been [[taboo]]. The belief that heterosexuality and abstinence were both ethical and statistical norms had never before been seriously challenged.	+
		+	The publications astounded the general public and were immediately controversial and sensational. The findings caused shock and outrage, both because they challenged conventional beliefs about [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] and because they discussed subjects that had previously been [[taboo]].
		+
		+	Critics have raised concerns about the methodology used to collect data.
		+
		+	[[Image:Kinsey-Male.jpg|thumb|The 1948 first edition of ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', the first of the two Kinsey reports]]
	==Findings==		==Findings==
		+	''This article contains content from Wikipedia''
	===Sexual orientation===		===Sexual orientation===
−	Probably the most widely cited findings of the Kinsey Reports regard the prevalence of different [[sexual orientation]]s — especially to support a claim that 10% of the population are gay. In fact, the findings are not so straightforward, and Kinsey himself avoided and disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual to describe individuals, noting that sexuality is prone to change over time, and that sexual behaviour can be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychic phenomena (desire, sexual attraction, fantasy). Instead of three-categories ([[heterosexuality|heterosexual]], [[bisexuality|bisexual]] and [[homosexuality|homosexual]]), a seven point scale was used. The [[Kinsey scale]] ranked sexual behaviour from 0 to 6, with 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 completely homosexual. A 1 was considered predominantly heterosexual and only incidentally homosexual, a 2 mostly heterosexual and more than incidentally homosexual, a 3 equally homosexual and heterosexual, and so on.
−	The reports found that nearly 46% of the male population had engaged in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, or "reacted to" persons of both sexes, in the course of their adult lives.<ref>Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male, p. 656</ref>. 11.6% of white males (ages 20-35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) throughout their adult lives.<ref>Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male, Table 147, p. 651</ref> The study also reported that 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55"<ref>Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male, p. 651</ref> (in the 5 to 6 range).	+	Parts of the Kinsey Reports regarding diversity in [[sexual orientation]]s are frequently used to support the common estimate of 10% for [[homosexuality]] in the general population. However, the findings are not as absolute, and Kinsey himself avoided and disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual to describe individuals, asserting that sexuality is prone to change over time, and that sexual behavior can be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychological phenomena (desire, sexual attraction, fantasy). Instead of three categories ([[heterosexuality|heterosexual]], [[bisexuality|bisexual]] and [[homosexuality|homosexual]]), a seven-category [[Kinsey Scale]] system was used (an 8th category for [[asexual]]s was added by Kinsey's associates).
−	7% of single females (ages 20-35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20-35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on the 7-point Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period of their lives.<ref>Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female, Table 142, p. 499</ref> 2 to 6% of females, aged 20-35, were more or less exclusively homosexual in experience/response.<ref>Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female, p. 488</ref>	+	The reports also state that nearly 46% of the male subjects had "reacted" sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37% had at least one homosexual experience.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, p. 656</ref> 11.6% of white males (ages 20–35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) throughout their adult lives.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Table 147, p. 651</ref> The study also reported that 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55" (in the 5 to 6 range).<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, p. 651</ref>
−	===Masturbation===	+	7% of single females (ages 20–35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20–35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period of their lives.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, Table 142, p. 499</ref> 2 to 6% of females, aged 20–35, were more or less exclusively homosexual in experience/response,<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, p. 488</ref> and 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20–35 were exclusively homosexual in experience/response.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, Table 142, p. 499, and p. 474</ref>
−	62% of females reported that they had masturbated.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Female, p. 142</ref> 45% of females who reported having masturbated indicated that they could reach orgasm within 3 minutes.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Female, p. 163</ref> 92% of males reported that they had masturbated.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Male, p. 499</ref>	+
−	===Marital coitus===
−	The average frequency of marital sex reported by women was 2.8 times a week, in late teens; 2.2 times a week, by age 30; and 1.0 times a week, by age 50.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Female, p. 348-349, 351.</ref>
−	===Extra-marital sex===	+	====Kinsey scale====
−	Kinsey estimated that approximately 50% of all married males had some extramarital experience at some time during their married lives.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Male, pp. 585, 587</ref> Among the sample, 26% of females had had extramarital sex by their forties. Between 1 in 6 and 1 in 10 females from age 26 to 50 were engaged in extramarital sex.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Female, p. 416</ref>	+	The [[Kinsey scale]] attempts to describe a person's sexual history or episodes of their sexual activity at a given time. The scale ranked sexual behavior from 0 to 6, with 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 completely homosexual. An additional category, X, was mentioned to describe [[asexual]]s, those who experienced no sexual desire.<ref>Kinsey Male volume, page 640, table 141.</ref> It was first published in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) by [[Alfred Kinsey]], [[Wardell Pomeroy]] and others, and was also prominent in the complementary work Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). Introducing the scale, Kinsey wrote:
−	===Sadomasochism===	+	{{cquote|Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories [...] The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects.
−	12% of females and 22% of males reported having an erotic response to a sadomasochistic story, and 55% of females and 50% of males reported having responded erotically to being bitten.<ref>Sexual Behaviour of the Human Female, pp. 677-678</ref>	+
−	== Methodology ==	+	While emphasising the continuity of the gradations between exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual histories, it has seemed desirable to develop some sort of classification which could be based on the relative amounts of heterosexual and homosexual experience or response in each history... An individual may be assigned a position on this scale, for each period in his life. [...] A seven-point scale comes nearer to showing the many gradations that actually exist.<ref>Kinsey, et al. (1948). pp. 639, 656.</ref>}}
−	Data was gathered primarily by means of interviews, which were encoded to maintain confidentiality. Other data sources included the diaries of convicted child molesters. The data were later computerised for processing. All of this material, including the original researchers' notes, remains available from the [[Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction|Kinsey Institute]] to qualified researchers who demonstrate a need to view such materials. The institute also allows researchers to submit [[SPSS]] programs to be run on the data, which remains a unique resource in both the size of the survey and the care with which it was documented.	+	{{LGBT|orientation=expanded}}
		+	The scale is as follows:
		+	{|class="wikitable"
		+	!Rating
		+	!style="text-align: left"|Description
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccccff"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|0
		+	|Exclusively heterosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccddff"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|1
		+	|Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccfffa"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|2
		+	|Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccffcc"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|3
		+	|Equally heterosexual and homosexual (bisexual)
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccfffa"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|4
		+	|Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccddff"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|5
		+	|Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #ccccff"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|6
		+	|Exclusively homosexual
		+	|- style="background-color: #fdfdfd"
		+	| style="text-align: center"|X
		+	|[[Asexual]]
		+	|}
−	The statistics were more carefully compiled and interpreted than was common at the time, and his subjects' confidentiality more carefully protected. However, his subject lent itself to sensationalism. Based on his data and findings, others claimed that 10% of the population are [[homosexuality|homosexual]], and that women enhance their prospects of satisfaction in marriage by masturbating previously. Neither claim was made by Kinsey, but both were (and continue to be) attributed to him.	+	<!--Anyone who has access to the reports please complete the findings for prevalence of Kinsey 0, 1, 2, and 4. The statistics below were taken from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/ak-data.html -->
		+	*'''Men''': 11.6% of white males aged 20–35 were given a rating of 3 for this period of their lives.<ref>Kinsey, et al. 1948. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Table 147, p. 651</ref>
		+	*'''Women''': 7% of single females aged 20–35 and 4% of previously married females aged 20–35 were given a rating of 3 for this period of their lives.<ref>Kinsey, et al. 1953. Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, Table 142, p. 499</ref> 2 to 6% of females, aged 20–35, were given a rating of 5<ref>Kinsey, et al. 1953. [[Sexual Behavior in the Human Female]], p. 488</ref> and 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20–35 were rated as 6.<ref>Kinsey, et al. 1953. [[Sexual Behavior in the Human Female]], Table 142, p. 499, and p. 474</ref>
−	== Criticism ==	+	===Marital coitus===
−	The core criticisms of the work revolve around sample selection and sample bias. In 1948, the same year as the original publication, a committee of the [[American Statistical Association]], including notable statisticians such as [[John Tukey]] condemned the sampling procedure. Tukey was perhaps the most vocal critic, saying "A random selection of three people would have been better than a group of 300 chosen by Mr. Kinsey" [http://www.swlearning.com/quant/kohler/stat/biographical_sketches/bio15.1.html]. Criticism principally revolved around the over-representation of some groups in the sample: 25% were, or had been, [[prison]] inmates, and 5% were [[male prostitute]]s. A related criticism, by some of the leading [[psychologist]]s of the day, notably [[Abraham Maslow]], was that he (Kinsey) did not consider the bias created by the data representing only those who were willing to participate.	+	The average frequency of marital sex reported by women was 2.8 times a week in the late teens, 2.2 times a week by age 30, and 1.0 times a week by age 50.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, p. 348-349, 351.</ref> Kinsey estimated that approximately 50% of all married males had some [[extramarital sex|extramarital experience]] at some time during their married lives.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, pp. 585, 587</ref> Among the sample, 26% of females had extramarital sex by their forties. Between 1 in 6 and 1 in 10 females from age 26 to 50 were engaged in extramarital sex.<ref>Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, p. 416</ref> However, Kinsey classified couples who have lived together for at least a year as "married", inflating the statistics for extra-marital sex.<ref name="Kinsey, Alfred p. 53">Kinsey, Alfred. ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'', p. 53.</ref><ref name="Jones, James H. 1997">Jones, James H. (1997). Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life. New York: Norton.</ref> James H. Jones wrote that Kinsey's appetite for unconventional sex and his disdain for conventional sexual [[morality]], drove Kinsey's agenda to strip sexuality of guilt and to undermine traditional sexual morality. He pointed to Kinsey's classification of couples who have lived together for at least a year as "married".<ref name="Kinsey, Alfred p. 53"/><ref name="Jones, James H. 1997"/>
−	In a response to these criticisms, [[Paul Gebhard]], Kinsey's successor as director of the [[Kinsey Institute for Sex Research]], spent years "cleaning" the Kinsey data of its purported contaminants, removing, for example, all material derived from prison populations in the basic sample. In 1979, Gebhard (with [[Alan B. Johnson]]) published ''The Kinsey Data: Marginal Tabulations of the 1938-1963 Interviews Conducted by the Institute for Sex Research''. Their conclusion, to Gebhard's surprise he claimed, was that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by this bias.	+	===Sadomasochism===
		+	12% of females and 22% of males reported having an erotic response to a [[sadomasochism|sadomasochistic]] story.<ref name="sbhf677">Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, pp. 677-678</ref> Jones's biography, ''Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life,'' describes Kinsey as [[bisexual]] and experimenting in [[Sadomasochism|masochism]]. He encouraged group sex involving his graduate students, wife and staff. Kinsey filmed sexual acts in the attic of his home as part of his research.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|title=Kinsey Establishes the Institute for Sex Research|work= American Experience: Kinsey|publisher=PBS|url= http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kinsey/peopleevents/e_institute.html |accessdate=2008-01-03}}</ref> Biographer [[Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy]] explained that using Kinsey's home for the filming of sexual acts was done to ensure the films' secrecy, which would certainly have caused a scandal had the public become aware of them.<ref>[http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/publications/column2.html The Kinsey Institute - [Publications&#93;<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/publications/duberman.html The Kinsey Institute - [Publications&#93;<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>　
−	Professor [[Martin Duberman]] writes:	+	==Methodology==
		+	Data was gathered primarily by means of [[subjective report]] interviews, conducted according to a structured questionnaire memorised by the experimenters (but not marked on the response sheet in any way).<ref name="Ericksen1998">{{cite journal|ref=harv|last=Ericksen|first= J.|year= 1998 |title= With Enough Cases, Why Do You Need Statistics? Revisiting Kinsey's Methodology|journal=The Journal of Sex Research|publisher= Taylor & Francis|volume=35|issue=2|pages=132–140|url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/3813665|doi=10.1080/00224499809551926}}</ref> The response sheets were encoded in this way to maintain the confidentiality of the respondents, being entered on a blank grid using response symbols defined in advance.<ref name="Ericksen1998"/> The data were later computerized for processing. All of this material, including the original researchers' notes, remains available from the [[Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction|Kinsey Institute]] to qualified researchers who demonstrate a need to view such materials. The institute also allows researchers to use statistical software (such as [[PSPP]] or [[SPSS]]) in order to analyze the data.
−	:Instead of Kinsey's 37 %, Gebhard and Johnson came up with 36.4 %; the 10 % figure (with prison inmates excluded) came to 9.9 % for white, college-educated males and 12.7 % for those with less education. And as for the call for a "[[random sample]]," a team of independent statisticians studying Kinsey's procedures had concluded as far back as [[1953]] that the unique problems inherent in sex research precluded the possibility of obtaining a true random sample, and that Kinsey's interviewing technique had been "extraordinarily skillful." They characterized Kinsey's work overall as "a monumental endeavor." [http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/publications/duberman.html]	+	The subject matter of the report lent itself to sensationalism. Based on his data and findings, others claimed that 10% of the population is [[homosexuality|gay]], and that women enhance their prospects of satisfaction in marriage by masturbating previously. Neither claim was made by Kinsey.
−	== Conjecture of child abuse ==	+	Data concerning pre-adolescent [[orgasm]]s including tables 30 through 34 of the male volume, which report observations of orgasms in over three-hundred children between the ages of five months and fourteen years, led to further scrutiny.<ref name="kinsey-tables">{{cite book|title= Sexual Behavior in the Human Male |last= Kinsey|first= Alfred Charles|coauthors=Clyde Eugene Mart|year= 1998 (reprint of 1948 original)|publisher=Indiana University Press|pages=178–180 |isbn= 0253334128}}</ref> The Kinsey Institute states on its website, "[Kinsey] did not carry out experiments on children; he did not hire, collaborate, or persuade people to carry out experiments on children." and that
−	In the Kinsey Reports are data concerning pre-adolescent [[orgasm]]s.  Particularly controversial are tables 30 through 34 of the male volume.  For example, table 34 is, "Examples of multiple orgasm in pre-adolescent males. Some instances of higher frequencies." A typical entry indicates that a certain 7 year-old had seven orgasms in a three hour time period. Kinsey's critics state that data such as these could have only been obtained by direct observation of or participation in child abuse.  In particular they point to the information given in table 32, "Speed of pre-adolescent orgasm; Duration of stimulation before climax; Observations timed with second hand or stop watch," and say that the only way such precise data could have been collected was through cooperation with child molesters.	+
−	The Kinsey institute states unequivocally on its website, "[Kinsey] did not carry out experiments on children; he did not hire, collaborate, or persuade people to carry out experiments on children." It goes on to say,	+	{{cquote|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 reacted.<ref name=KI>[http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/about/controversy%202.htm Kinsey Institute statement denies child abuse in study]</ref>}} He balanced what he saw as the need for their anonymity to solicit "honest answers on such taboo subjects" against the likelihood that their crimes would continue.<ref name="Welsh-Huggins">{{cite news| last = Welsh-Huggins
		+	| first = Andrews | title = Conservative group attacks Kinsey data on children| work = Herald-Times| year = 1995| month = September| url = http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/1995/09/06/archive.19950906.b0c15bb.sto
		+	| quote = Providing such absolute assurances of anonymity was the only way to guarantee honest answers on such taboo subjects, said Gebhard.}}</ref> Bancroft later revealed that the data on children in tables 31–34 came from one man's journal that was started in 1917, long before the Kinsey Reports. Kinsey explicitly pointed out the illegality of the man's actions, but granted him anonymity.<ref>[http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/about/cont-akchild.html Kinsey Institute director denies allegations by Reisman]</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Pool |first= Gary |title= Sex, science, and Kinsey: a conversation with Dr. John Bancroft - head of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction |publisher= Humanist |date= 1996 September-October |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_n5_v56/ai_18640605/pg_1 |accessdate= 2008-01-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
		+	|author= Mick Brown |title= The bedroom and beyond |publisher= Telegraph magazine |date= 2004 November |url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/12/1100227565498.html |accessdate = 2009-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news  |last= Crain |first= Caleb |title= Alfred Kinsey, Liberator or pervert ? | publisher = New York Times | date = 2004 October | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/movies/03crai.html| accessdate = 2009-12-07}}</ref>
−	:Kinsey clearly stated in his male volume the sources of information about children's sexual responses. 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 reacted. We believe that one of those men was the source of the data listed in the book.
−	== Organized opposition ==	+	In response to criticisms of sample selection<ref>{{Cite journal | author = [[David Leonhardt]] | title = John Tukey, 85, Statistician; Coined the Word 'Software' | journal = [[The New York Times]] | date =  July 28, 2000 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.swlearning.com/quant/kohler/stat/biographical_sketches/bio15.1.html John Tukey criticizes sample procedure] Statistician Turkey: "A random selection of three people would have been better than a group of 300 chosen by Mr. Kinsey." A statistician exaggerating may be just as biased as a layman, but here he is stating that prison inmates are 30,000% more biased?</ref>, [[Paul Gebhard]], Kinsey's successor as director of the [[Kinsey Institute for Sex Research]], cleaned the Kinsey data of purported contaminants, removing, for example, all material derived from prison populations in the basic sample. In 1979, Gebhard (with [[Alan B. Johnson]]) published ''The Kinsey Data: Marginal Tabulations of the 1938–1963 Interviews Conducted by the Institute for Sex Research''. Their conclusion, to Gebhard's surprise he claimed, was that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by this bias: that is, prison population, male prostitutes, and those who willingly participated in discussion of previously taboo sexual topics had the same statistical tendency as the general population. The results were summarized by historian, playwright, and gay-rights activist [[Martin Duberman]], "Instead of Kinsey's 37% (men who had at least one homosexual experience), Gebhard and Johnson came up with 36.4%; the 10% figure (men who were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55"), with prison inmates excluded, came to 9.9% for white, college-educated males and 12.7% for those with less education.<ref name="MDOG">[http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/publications/duberman.html Martin Duberman on Gebhart's "cleaning" of data]</ref>
−	Some [[conservative]] groups including [[RSVPAmerica]], headed by Dr [[Judith A. Reisman]], and the [[Family Research Council]] have stated that they aim to discredit the Kinsey Reports. These groups often accuse Kinsey's work of promoting "unhealthy" sexual practices or mores.	+
−	RSVPAmerica advertises publications such as ''Kinsey: Crimes & Consequences'' and ''Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: The Indoctrination of a People,'' both by Reisman, and the video "The Children of Table 34", funded by the [[Family Research Council]]. The campaign website states that the video "presents the story of Dr. Reisman's discovery of Dr. Alfred Kinsey's systematic [[child sexual abuse|sexual abuse]] of 317 male children".	+	[[Psychologist]] [[Abraham Maslow]] asserted that Kinsey did not consider "[[volunteer bias]]". The data represented only those volunteering to participate in discussion of taboo topics. Most Americans were reluctant to discuss the intimate details of their sex lives even with their spouses and close friends. While this is a valid possibility, finding data from those reluctant to give data is impossible. Nonetheless, Maslow concluded that Kinsey's sample was unrepresentative of the general population.<ref>Maslow, A. H., and Sakoda, J. (1952). Volunteer error in the Kinsey study, Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1952 Apr;47(2):259-62.</ref>
		+	A 1994 study found that less than 5 percent of men said that they had had a same-sex sexual experience since the age of 18. Laumann's findings for rates of adultery were also around half those of Kinsey's.<ref>Schaffer, Amanda, Slate magazine, September 2007: http://www.slate.com/id/2174454</ref>
−	In its 1998 response [http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/about/cont-akchild.html] to the core allegations made by Reisman, Kinsey Institute director [[John Bancroft]] stated that the data on children in tables 31-34 of Kinsey's ''Sexual Behavior of the Human Male'' came largely from the journal of one adult "[[omniphile]]", who had illegal sexual interaction with these children.  The man's journal started in 1917, long before the Kinsey Reports.  Bancroft further stated that Kinsey explicitly pointed out the illegality of the man's actions, but that he granted his source anonymity.  In addition, Bancroft reiterated the Kinsey Institute's claim that Kinsey never had any sexual interaction with children, nor did he employ others to do so, and that he interviewed children in the presence of their parents.
−	Other attacks have centered on the sex life and motives of Kinsey himself (see [[Alfred C. Kinsey]]), or have claimed that the Kinsey Reports are themselves responsible for decay in society.	+	Criticism on 'moral' grounds was put, alleging that data in the reports could not have been obtained without 'collaboration' with child molesters.<ref>{{cite book|title= Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims: A Practical Guide|last= Salter, Ph.D.|first= Anna C.|year=1988| pages=22–24 |publisher=Sage Publications Inc |isbn= 0803931824}}</ref> The Kinsey Institute denies this charge, though it acknowledges that men who have had sexual experiences with children were interviewed, with Kinsey balancing what he saw as the need for their anonymity to solicit "honest answers on such taboo subjects" against the likelihood that their crimes would continue.<ref name=KI/><ref name="Welsh-Huggins"/> Additionally, concerns over the sample populations used were later addressed by the Kinsey Institute, and the conclusion was that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by these data sources.<ref name="MDOG"/>
−	==The reports in context==	+	==Context and significance==
−	The Kinsey reports are associated with a change in public perception of [[sexuality]]. In the [[1960]]s, following the introduction of the [[oral contraceptive]], this change was to be expressed in the [[sexual revolution]]. Also in the 1960s, [[Masters and Johnson]] published their investigations into the [[physiology]] of sex, breaking taboos and misapprehensions similar to those Kinsey had broken more than a decade earlier in a closely related field.	+
−	To what extent the reports produced or promoted this change and to what extent they merely expressed it and reflected the conditions that were producing it is a matter of much debate and speculation.	+	The Kinsey Reports, which together sold three-quarters of a million copies and were translated in thirteen languages, may be considered as part of the most successful and influential scientific books of the 20th century. The Kinsey Reports are associated with a change in public perception of [[Human sexuality|sexuality]]. In the 1960s, following the introduction of the [[combined oral contraceptive pill|first oral contraceptive]], this change was to be expressed in the [[sexual revolution]]. Also in the 1960s, [[Masters and Johnson]] published their investigations into the [[physiology]] of sex, breaking taboos and misapprehensions similar to those Kinsey had broken more than a decade earlier in a closely related field.
−	Many of Kinsey's conclusions, while radical for the time, are now generally accepted. The reports continue to be widely cited and regarded as a significant piece of original research material.	+	To what extent the Reports produced or promoted this change and to what extent they merely expressed it and reflected the conditions that were producing it is a matter of much debate and speculation.
		+	[[File:Kinsey,_Anger,_Crowley,_Abbey_of_Thelema.jpg|thumb|320px|[[Alfred Kinsey]] and [[Kenneth Anger]] at [[Aleister Crowley]]'s [[Abbey of Thelema]] in the mid 1950s, with a photo of Crowley on the wall. From Nevill Drury's ''Magic and Witchcraft''<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=kZYzNAAACAAJ Magic and Witchcraft] by Nevill Drury</ref>]]
		+	==Popular culture==
		+	The Kinsey report was mentioned in [[Cole Porter]]'s contemporaneous song, "[[Too Darn Hot]]", for his musical ''[[Kiss Me Kate]]'' (1948) - "According to the Kinsey report/Every average man I know ..." (though this was altered to "the latest report" in the 1953 film).
−	== References ==	+	[[Kinsey (film)|Kinsey]], a biographical film based on the life of Alfred Kinsey was written and directed by Bill Condon, and released in 2004. It starred Liam Neeson as Kinsey, and Laura Linney (in a performance nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Chris O’Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker and William Sadler. ''Kinsey'' was nominated for a number of awards, winning 10 of them.
−	*M. Duberman [http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/publications/duberman.html]	+
−	*A.C. Kinsey, W.B. Pomeroy, C.E. Martin, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', (Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders, 1948). ISBN 0253334128.	+	==See also==
−	*A.C. Kinsey, W.B. Pomeroy, C.E. Martin, P.H. Gebhard, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'', (Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders, 1953). ISBN 025333411X.	+	* ''[[Kinsey (film)|Kinsey]]'', the movie based on the life of Alfred Kinsey
−	*Dr. Judith A. Reisman, Edward W. Eichel, Dr. John H. Court & Dr. J. Gordon Muir, ''Kinsey, Sex and Fraud'', (Lafayette, LA: Lochinvar-Huntington House Publishers, 1990).	+	* [[Klein Sexual Orientation Grid]]
−	* Katz, Jonathan Ned (1995) ''The Invention of Heterosexuality''. NY, NY: Dutton (Penguin Books). ISBN 0525938451	+
	==External links==		==External links==
−	*[http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/ The Kinsey Institute Website]	+	* [http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/ Kinsey Institute home page]
−	*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362269/ The Kinsey Report movie IMDb]	+	* [http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-hhscale.html Kinsey's Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale]
		+
		+	==References==
		+	{{reflist|2}}
		+	{{sexual orientation}}
		+	[[Category:1948 books]][[Category:1953 books]][[Category:American non-fiction books]][[Category:Sexology literature]][[Category:Scales]][[Category:Bisexuality]][[Category:Sexology]][[Category:Sex]]
−	[[de:Kinsey-Report]]	+	[[ar:تقارير كينزي]][[bg:Докладите на Кинси]][[ca:Informe Kinsey]][[cs:Kinseyovy zprávy]][[de:Kinsey-Report]][[es:Informe Kinsey]][[eo:Kinsey-raporto]][[fr:Rapports Kinsey]][[ko:킨제이 ë³´ê³ ì„œ]][[it:Rapporto Kinsey]][[ja:キンゼイ報告]][[pl:Raport Kinseya]][[pt:Estudos de Kinsey]][[ru:Отчёты Кинси]][[simple:Kinsey Reports]][[zh:金赛报告]]

---

Latest revision as of 02:02, 20 January 2011

The Kinsey Reports are two books on human sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male^[1] (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female^[2] (1953), by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others and published by Saunders. Kinsey was a zoologist at Indiana University and the founder of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction (more widely known as the Kinsey Institute).

The Sexual Behavior in the Human Female was based on personal interviews with nearly 6,000 women. Kinsey analyzed data on the frequency with which women participate in various types of sexual activity and looked at how factors such as age, social-economic status and religious adherence influence sexual behavior. Comparisons are made of female and male sexual activities. Kinsey's evidence suggested that women were less sexually active than men in all aspects of sexual life but that they were still more sexual than traditional views allowed. By the time the book on female sexuality was published, it appeared that Kinsey seemed to feel that women and men are more alike in the biology of their sexuality than he had previously thought, and that both men's and women's sexuality seemed shaped, not merely repressed, by social and cultural forces.

The publications astounded the general public and were immediately controversial and sensational. The findings caused shock and outrage, both because they challenged conventional beliefs about sexuality and because they discussed subjects that had previously been taboo.

Critics have raised concerns about the methodology used to collect data.

Findings[edit]

This article contains content from Wikipedia

Sexual orientation[edit]

Parts of the Kinsey Reports regarding diversity in sexual orientations are frequently used to support the common estimate of 10% for homosexuality in the general population. However, the findings are not as absolute, and Kinsey himself avoided and disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual to describe individuals, asserting that sexuality is prone to change over time, and that sexual behavior can be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychological phenomena (desire, sexual attraction, fantasy). Instead of three categories (heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual), a seven-category Kinsey Scale system was used (an 8th category for asexuals was added by Kinsey's associates).

The reports also state that nearly 46% of the male subjects had "reacted" sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37% had at least one homosexual experience.^[3] 11.6% of white males (ages 20–35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) throughout their adult lives.^[4] The study also reported that 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55" (in the 5 to 6 range).^[5]

7% of single females (ages 20–35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20–35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period of their lives.^[6] 2 to 6% of females, aged 20–35, were more or less exclusively homosexual in experience/response,^[7] and 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20–35 were exclusively homosexual in experience/response.^[8]

Kinsey scale[edit]

The Kinsey scale attempts to describe a person's sexual history or episodes of their sexual activity at a given time. The scale ranked sexual behavior from 0 to 6, with 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 completely homosexual. An additional category, X, was mentioned to describe asexuals, those who experienced no sexual desire.^[9] It was first published in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others, and was also prominent in the complementary work Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). Introducing the scale, Kinsey wrote:

"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories [...] The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. While emphasising the continuity of the gradations between exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual histories, it has seemed desirable to develop some sort of classification which could be based on the relative amounts of heterosexual and homosexual experience or response in each history... An individual may be assigned a position on this scale, for each period in his life. [...] A seven-point scale comes nearer to showing the many gradations that actually exist.^[10]"

LGBT and Queer studies series
gender · homosexuality · bisexuality · transgender
LGBT history
Timeline · LGBT social movements · Gay Liberation
Culture
Community · Drag · gay slang · gay village · Pride · Queer theory · Religion · separatist feminism · Symbols
Law
Marriage · Adoption · sodomy law
Categories
This box: view â€¢ talk â€¢ edit

The scale is as follows:

Rating	Description
0	Exclusively heterosexual
1	Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
2	Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3	Equally heterosexual and homosexual (bisexual)
4	Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5	Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual
6	Exclusively homosexual
X	Asexual

• Men: 11.6% of white males aged 20–35 were given a rating of 3 for this period of their lives.^[11]
• Women: 7% of single females aged 20–35 and 4% of previously married females aged 20–35 were given a rating of 3 for this period of their lives.^[12] 2 to 6% of females, aged 20–35, were given a rating of 5^[13] and 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20–35 were rated as 6.^[14]

Marital coitus[edit]

The average frequency of marital sex reported by women was 2.8 times a week in the late teens, 2.2 times a week by age 30, and 1.0 times a week by age 50.^[15] Kinsey estimated that approximately 50% of all married males had some extramarital experience at some time during their married lives.^[16] Among the sample, 26% of females had extramarital sex by their forties. Between 1 in 6 and 1 in 10 females from age 26 to 50 were engaged in extramarital sex.^[17] However, Kinsey classified couples who have lived together for at least a year as "married", inflating the statistics for extra-marital sex.^[18][19] James H. Jones wrote that Kinsey's appetite for unconventional sex and his disdain for conventional sexual morality, drove Kinsey's agenda to strip sexuality of guilt and to undermine traditional sexual morality. He pointed to Kinsey's classification of couples who have lived together for at least a year as "married".^[18][19]

Sadomasochism[edit]

12% of females and 22% of males reported having an erotic response to a sadomasochistic story.^[20] Jones's biography, Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life, describes Kinsey as bisexual and experimenting in masochism. He encouraged group sex involving his graduate students, wife and staff. Kinsey filmed sexual acts in the attic of his home as part of his research.^[21] Biographer Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy explained that using Kinsey's home for the filming of sexual acts was done to ensure the films' secrecy, which would certainly have caused a scandal had the public become aware of them.^[22][23]　

Methodology[edit]

Data was gathered primarily by means of subjective report interviews, conducted according to a structured questionnaire memorised by the experimenters (but not marked on the response sheet in any way).^[24] The response sheets were encoded in this way to maintain the confidentiality of the respondents, being entered on a blank grid using response symbols defined in advance.^[24] The data were later computerized for processing. All of this material, including the original researchers' notes, remains available from the Kinsey Institute to qualified researchers who demonstrate a need to view such materials. The institute also allows researchers to use statistical software (such as PSPP or SPSS) in order to analyze the data.

The subject matter of the report lent itself to sensationalism. Based on his data and findings, others claimed that 10% of the population is gay, and that women enhance their prospects of satisfaction in marriage by masturbating previously. Neither claim was made by Kinsey.

Data concerning pre-adolescent orgasms including tables 30 through 34 of the male volume, which report observations of orgasms in over three-hundred children between the ages of five months and fourteen years, led to further scrutiny.^[25] The Kinsey Institute states on its website, "[Kinsey] did not carry out experiments on children; he did not hire, collaborate, or persuade people to carry out experiments on children." and 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 reacted.^[26]"
He balanced what he saw as the need for their anonymity to solicit "honest answers on such taboo subjects" against the likelihood that their crimes would continue.^[27] Bancroft later revealed that the data on children in tables 31–34 came from one man's journal that was started in 1917, long before the Kinsey Reports. Kinsey explicitly pointed out the illegality of the man's actions, but granted him anonymity.^{[28][29][30][31]}

In response to criticisms of sample selection^[32][33], Paul Gebhard, Kinsey's successor as director of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research, cleaned the Kinsey data of purported contaminants, removing, for example, all material derived from prison populations in the basic sample. In 1979, Gebhard (with Alan B. Johnson) published The Kinsey Data: Marginal Tabulations of the 1938–1963 Interviews Conducted by the Institute for Sex Research. Their conclusion, to Gebhard's surprise he claimed, was that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by this bias: that is, prison population, male prostitutes, and those who willingly participated in discussion of previously taboo sexual topics had the same statistical tendency as the general population. The results were summarized by historian, playwright, and gay-rights activist Martin Duberman, "Instead of Kinsey's 37% (men who had at least one homosexual experience), Gebhard and Johnson came up with 36.4%; the 10% figure (men who were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55"), with prison inmates excluded, came to 9.9% for white, college-educated males and 12.7% for those with less education.^[34]

Psychologist Abraham Maslow asserted that Kinsey did not consider "volunteer bias". The data represented only those volunteering to participate in discussion of taboo topics. Most Americans were reluctant to discuss the intimate details of their sex lives even with their spouses and close friends. While this is a valid possibility, finding data from those reluctant to give data is impossible. Nonetheless, Maslow concluded that Kinsey's sample was unrepresentative of the general population.^[35] A 1994 study found that less than 5 percent of men said that they had had a same-sex sexual experience since the age of 18. Laumann's findings for rates of adultery were also around half those of Kinsey's.^[36]

Criticism on 'moral' grounds was put, alleging that data in the reports could not have been obtained without 'collaboration' with child molesters.^[37] The Kinsey Institute denies this charge, though it acknowledges that men who have had sexual experiences with children were interviewed, with Kinsey balancing what he saw as the need for their anonymity to solicit "honest answers on such taboo subjects" against the likelihood that their crimes would continue.^[26][27] Additionally, concerns over the sample populations used were later addressed by the Kinsey Institute, and the conclusion was that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by these data sources.^[34]

Context and significance[edit]

The Kinsey Reports, which together sold three-quarters of a million copies and were translated in thirteen languages, may be considered as part of the most successful and influential scientific books of the 20th century. The Kinsey Reports are associated with a change in public perception of sexuality. In the 1960s, following the introduction of the first oral contraceptive, this change was to be expressed in the sexual revolution. Also in the 1960s, Masters and Johnson published their investigations into the physiology of sex, breaking taboos and misapprehensions similar to those Kinsey had broken more than a decade earlier in a closely related field.

To what extent the Reports produced or promoted this change and to what extent they merely expressed it and reflected the conditions that were producing it is a matter of much debate and speculation.

Popular culture[edit]

The Kinsey report was mentioned in Cole Porter's contemporaneous song, "Too Darn Hot", for his musical Kiss Me Kate (1948) - "According to the Kinsey report/Every average man I know ..." (though this was altered to "the latest report" in the 1953 film).

Kinsey, a biographical film based on the life of Alfred Kinsey was written and directed by Bill Condon, and released in 2004. It starred Liam Neeson as Kinsey, and Laura Linney (in a performance nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Chris O’Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker and William Sadler. Kinsey was nominated for a number of awards, winning 10 of them.

See also[edit]

• Kinsey, the movie based on the life of Alfred Kinsey
• Klein Sexual Orientation Grid

External links[edit]

• Kinsey Institute home page
• Kinsey's Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale

References[edit]

Template:sexual orientationsimple:Kinsey Reports