The Famously Flawed Alfred Kinsey

By: Kiara Bell

Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist, educator, and sexologist. He is widely regarded as the first major American figure in sexology, although there were many flaws in his different research methods. He founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1947. Later, the name was changed to the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. [1] In my own personal opinion, Alfred Kinsey was an interesting, but very absurd, man to say the least. Alfred Kinsey was a husband and a father. I found that he was bisexual and he and his wife had agreed to sleep with other people along with each other. Kinsey slept with other men, one of them being his student named Clyde Martin.

In the 1930s, Kinsey began teaching a marriage course and soon realized there was a very little amount of research done on sex.[2] He launched a sex studies program eight years later and that’s when it all started. Unfortunately, throughout the years it has been found that Kinsey’s research methods were flawed in several ways. For instance, some of his methods consisted of observation and participation in sexual activities that sometimes involved his coworkers. It is rumored that Alfred Kinsey was driven by his own sexual needs. He instructed his coworkers to engage in a wide range of sexual activity. According to Kinsey, this would benefit his studies because it would help the interviewer better understand the thoughts of the participants. [3] His ways of exploration were also flawed because his subjects were not representative of the population at large, his data mostly focused on people who were sexually active and adventurous even though he interviewed more than 17,000 men and women.

After researching this man, I have just become extremely disgusted by the things Alfred Kinsey did. He was a very sick and disturbed man whose actions were simply revolting. There was so much controversy about Kinsey because his research dealt openly with human sexuality during a time when the topic was taboo and obscene.

 Lastly, I do not understand how a person can be so vile and protect the secrets of sexual deviants in the name of science. Kinsey wrote about pre-adolescent orgasms and did further research on the arousal and responses of children from two months to fourteen years old. There were observations of about 300 children in his journals. He also interviewed men who had sexual experiences with children so he could learn about their responses and reactions. So, as you can see, he interviewed a very diverse group of people, pedophiles included. Much of his research was based on information gained from the sexual abuse of children. Alfred Kinsey made a huge impact on the knowledge of sexuality in America in a very sick and twisted way.

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[1] The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Inc, "Origin of the Institute." Last modified 2014. Accessed January 29, 2014. http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/about/origins.html.

[2] The Biography Channel website. “Alfred Kinsey Biography.” Last modified 2014. Accessed January 29, 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/alfred-kinsey-9365493?page=2

[3] Capuano, . See Luminosity, "Part 3: The Man Who Changed Morality – Alfred Kinsey, Sex Researcher." Last modified September 28, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2014. http://seeluminosity.com/part-3-alfred-kinsey-sex-researcher/.