|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
'Errorgenous' Zones: Kinsey's Sexual Ideology
| Article
# : |
11736 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1994 |
4,950 Words |
| Author
: |
Alan J. Levine
Alan J. Levine is a historian specializing in twentieth-
century international relations and the author of From the
Normandy Beaches to the Baltic Sea. |
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, compiled under the direction of the zoologist Alfred Kinsey and published in 1948 and 1953, respectively, were among the most famous and influential books of the post World War II era.l At first sight, the Kinsey Reports might seem of only antiquarian interest. Their account of the physiology of sex, while of value, has long been superseded by the work of Masters and Johnson. Surely, their far more controversial surveys of sexual behavior, based on data gathered from 1938 through 1949, can only tell us about how people acted in an era now distant.
But that is not the case. Even today, the Kinsey Reports remain the biggest surveys ever made of sexual behavior, and they remain controversial. The recent Battelle Institute report, estimating that just 1 percent of American men are homosexuals, instead of the 10 percent figure usually attributed to Kinsey, gained headlines. As we shall see, however, that widely cited number is actually based on a misunderstanding of Kinsey. Recently, serious questions about Kinsey's work and character have been raised by Judith Reisman and George Eichel.2
The Kinsey Reports originated or popularized some important contemporary beliefs and habits of thought about sexual behavior that still affect us. Many of their claims and tenets gained ready acceptance. Even a conservative writer like Jeffrey Hart comments, "In contrast to the official attitudes of the time, and setting aside cavils over Kinsey's methodology, he showed convincingly that there was a lot of sexual activity going on." Elsewhere, Hart speaks of the "honesties" achieved by Kinsey and others and uncritically accepts the accuracy of his statistics.3 As we shall see, to dismiss methodology as a side issue in dealing with Kinsey is to miss the point.
This is strange, for when the reports appeared they encountered strong criticism not only from religious groups and conservatives but from scientists and liberal social observers like Lionel Trilling and Dorothy Dunbar Bromley. (The latter, incidentally, had carried out one of the largest sex surveys before Kinsey, in the 1930s.) Even those who generally endorsed his findings, like Ashley Montagu, often did so with major qualifications.4
Of course many who "read" the Kinsey Reports in the 1940s and '50s merely flipped through them under the impression that they were "sexy," only to find out that they are about as erotically stimulating as the federal budget. Often, readers consulted the reports to determine whether
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
