With the release of the movie “Kinsey”, a biography ofAlfred Charles Kinsey is in order, as truth may be strangerthan fiction. Kinsey was born June 23, 1894 in New Jersey.His father wanted Alfred to pursue a more religious career,but Kinsey had a passion for biology. His high schoolpredicted Alfred would become “the second Darwin”. Aided bya wealthy widow, Kinsey attended Bowdoin University in Maine,graduating magna cum laude in 1916. Ultimately, Kinseybecame an entomologist (bug scientist) studying the matinghabits of gall wasps (and becoming the utmost authority onthe matter). He made the move from Harvard to Indiana Statein order to teach. Astounded that the youth of the day hada paucity of carnal knowledge, Kinsey made the switch tohuman sexuality in 1938, when he began teaching a course inmarriage at Indiana State. Kinsey considered himself anauthority on the matter, since he had married a chemistrystudent by the name of Clara Brachen McMillen seventeenyears earlier. Students were, of course, fascinated, andeager to get the answers to all those questions that no oneat the time wanted to answer. Kinsey, not one to lose anopportunity, began interviewing his students, and then allsorts of people in Chicago. He later founded the Institutefor Sex Research at Indiana University (which was renamedthe Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, andReproduction in 1984). Kinsey became a pop-culture icon with the Kinsey Reports.The first of these was Sexual Behavior in the Human Malein 1948, followed by the publication of the Sexual Behaviorin the Human Female in 1953. These reports changed how weview sexuality, and arguably fueled the sexual revolution.The Kinsey Reports were interviews of thousands of peopleorganized and categorized. They looked at issues likemasturbation, anal sex, virginity, and climax time to namea few. Conservatives of the time were aghast at what thesereports published, calling Kinsey immoral. However, thepublic was titillated making the Kinsey Reports bestsellersof their time. The real controversy surrounding the Kinsey Reports israther cerebral, and not as tawdry as one would think. Whilethe subject matter ruffled many a collar and makes theChristian right swoon with fright, the controversy is inthe science. Yep, the geek moment is here: Kinsey’sresearch, subject pool and methods are not nearly assalient as one would want them to be. However, this is notto say that he wasn’t accurate, or pretty darn close. Kinseymanaged to show American sexuality as we see it now, not aspost WWII conservatives wanted see it. While that may notbe scientific, it is nonetheless humanity. Nonetheless, the benefits of the Kinsey Reports are vastand great. The most important of which was the removal ofHomosexuality as a disorder from the DSM (used bypsychologists/psychiatrists to diagnosis mental disorders).Likewise, Kinsey was able to create a six point scale ofsexual orientation in which is was possible for one to beheterosexual or homosexual with bisexual tendencies; forthat matter, one would be considered bisexual altogether.The Kinsey Reports also showed masturbation did not causedeath, insanity, or blindness, premarital sex happened, andextramarital sex was predominant. Most importantly, women hadorgasms. The exciting part of Kinsey is that he was himselfbisexual, masochistic, and loved group sex. Itwas reported that he had many homosexual lovers (somegraduate students). This did not destroy Kinsey’s marriage,as his wife enjoyed other men and they remained activelymarried for 35 years, and only ended with his death in 1956. Some of the fun numbers provided by the Kinsey Reports, where5300 white males and 5940 white females were interviewed.
Percentage reporting their first time by age 16: Male: 21%; Female: 6%
Reaching climax less than 2 minutes after penetration:Males: 17%; Females: 23%
Exclusively homosexual: Male: 8%; Female: 1-3%
Of the females interviewed, 84% used clitoral or labialmanipulation while 2% used fantasy alone to achieve orgasm.
Percentage performing oral sex in heterosexual relations:Males before marriage: 10%Females before marriage: 19%Males after marriage: 49%Females after marriage: 45%
68% of males experienced their first orgasm throughmasturbation as opposed to 40% of females experiencedorgasm through masturbation. 12% of males experienced theirfirst orgasm through heterosexual sex compared to 27% ofwomen.
Who said math and statistics couldn’t be fun?! Until nexttime remember, sex isn’t dirty unless you like it that way.Be safe.
Sources: Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Kinsey Institute (www.kinseyinstitute.org)