Alfred Kinsey might be my new hero.
We went to see the movie Kinsey last night, and although I'd heard the researcher's name before, I had no idea how his groundbreaking studies on human sexuality changed the world. For the better, I believe. Yeah, so I'm a way-left-leaning, bleeding-heart liberal. Not really a shocker to those who know me well. I'm sure Bush and his bible-thumping, fundamentalist buddies would vehemently disagree with me. Let 'em. Nothing's going to change their minds. The world has no shades of gray, in their eyes. I'd quote a Bible verse that they might bring up in order to prove their point, but they could twist around anyone's words to fit their own purposes. And besides, I don't quote the Bible because...well, just because.
If you're just not into this topic, now's the time to bow out and visit again tomorrow for a new post.
What a bunch of uptight, freaked-out, whiney, holier-than-thou hypocrits. Who lie, cheat, steal, kill...but somehow think it's their business to stick their noses and righteousness into what goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults. But I'm not going to make this post about THEM. I'm going to make it about Kinsey and his life's work. Granted, he was rather one dimensional in that all he thought about was studying sex. Kind of the ultimate example of what most women believe: it's all men think about, 24/7. :-)
He also completely ignored the idea of "love" and looked at sex strictly as a function of the nature of the human "animal." Maybe I'm a romantic idealist. But I'd like to think that, in most cases, people are intimate because they feel an emotional connection. Not just because they want to fulfill some carnal need.
At any rate, the findings of the Kinsey studies are still worth a long look and an open discussion:
• Kinsey Scale
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, (p 639).
While emphasizing 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, (pp. 639, 656)
—Kinsey, et al. (1948). Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.
0- Exclusively heterosexual with no homosexual
1- Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
2- Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3- Equally heterosexual and homosexual
4- Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5- Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual
6- Exclusively homosexual
Kinsey estimated 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 (p. 656, Male). 11.6% of white males (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 (Table 147, p. 651, Male).
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• Nudity
Kinsey found that attitudes toward nudity differed by level of education and socioeconomic status. Still, about half (41%) of males in the College Sample reported sleeping nude, and half of the married females in the sample had regularly slept nude, (p. 366 Male and p. 365, Female).
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• Premarital sex
Occurs in:
Males:
67-98%, depending on socioeconomic level.
68% by age 18 had experienced premarital coitus, (p. 549-52, and Table 136, p. 550, Male).
Females:
about 50%, (p. 286, and Table 75, p. 333 and Table 79, p. 337, Female).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• Extramarital sex
Males: Kinsey estimated that approximately 50% of all married males had some extramarital experience at some time during their married lives (p. 585, 587, Male).
Females: 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, (p. 416, Female).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
For a complete, and so-detailed-it-might-make-you-blush, rundown of results, click here: Kinsey Institute.
We went to see the movie Kinsey last night, and although I'd heard the researcher's name before, I had no idea how his groundbreaking studies on human sexuality changed the world. For the better, I believe. Yeah, so I'm a way-left-leaning, bleeding-heart liberal. Not really a shocker to those who know me well. I'm sure Bush and his bible-thumping, fundamentalist buddies would vehemently disagree with me. Let 'em. Nothing's going to change their minds. The world has no shades of gray, in their eyes. I'd quote a Bible verse that they might bring up in order to prove their point, but they could twist around anyone's words to fit their own purposes. And besides, I don't quote the Bible because...well, just because.
If you're just not into this topic, now's the time to bow out and visit again tomorrow for a new post.
What a bunch of uptight, freaked-out, whiney, holier-than-thou hypocrits. Who lie, cheat, steal, kill...but somehow think it's their business to stick their noses and righteousness into what goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults. But I'm not going to make this post about THEM. I'm going to make it about Kinsey and his life's work. Granted, he was rather one dimensional in that all he thought about was studying sex. Kind of the ultimate example of what most women believe: it's all men think about, 24/7. :-)
He also completely ignored the idea of "love" and looked at sex strictly as a function of the nature of the human "animal." Maybe I'm a romantic idealist. But I'd like to think that, in most cases, people are intimate because they feel an emotional connection. Not just because they want to fulfill some carnal need.
At any rate, the findings of the Kinsey studies are still worth a long look and an open discussion:
• Kinsey Scale
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, (p 639).
While emphasizing 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, (pp. 639, 656)
—Kinsey, et al. (1948). Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.
0- Exclusively heterosexual with no homosexual
1- Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
2- Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3- Equally heterosexual and homosexual
4- Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5- Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual
6- Exclusively homosexual
Kinsey estimated 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 (p. 656, Male). 11.6% of white males (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 (Table 147, p. 651, Male).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• Nudity
Kinsey found that attitudes toward nudity differed by level of education and socioeconomic status. Still, about half (41%) of males in the College Sample reported sleeping nude, and half of the married females in the sample had regularly slept nude, (p. 366 Male and p. 365, Female).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• Premarital sex
Occurs in:
Males:
67-98%, depending on socioeconomic level.
68% by age 18 had experienced premarital coitus, (p. 549-52, and Table 136, p. 550, Male).
Females:
about 50%, (p. 286, and Table 75, p. 333 and Table 79, p. 337, Female).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• Extramarital sex
Males: Kinsey estimated that approximately 50% of all married males had some extramarital experience at some time during their married lives (p. 585, 587, Male).
Females: 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, (p. 416, Female).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
For a complete, and so-detailed-it-might-make-you-blush, rundown of results, click here: Kinsey Institute.
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