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Kinsey grew up with his parents in middle-class, conservative circumstances. After graduating from school, Kinsey studied at Bowdoin College and later at Harvard. From 1929 he was a professor of zoology at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, specializing in entomology (insect research), with his main focus being the cataloging of gall wasps. In 1936, the university planned a biological marriage counseling course and asked Kinsey to teach it. The existing publications at the time did not seem sufficient, realistic or representative to Kinsey, which led him to begin his own surveys.

It was important to develop a new interview technique and train employees accordingly so that the American population would willingly provide information on a previously taboo topic. The project, originally planned on a small scale, took on larger and larger dimensions over time until Alfred Kinsey founded the "Institute for Sex Research" at the University of Indiana in 1942, which in 1947 became "The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction" was unnamed. A survey of approximately 18,500 American citizens was undertaken over the course of 15 years. The method of questioning that was used is still used in sex therapy today.

The collected findings were published in two volumes: In 1948, "The Sexual Behavior of Men" appeared (in Germany from 1955) and in 1953 "The Sexual Behavior of Women" (in Germany from 1954), which became popular under the name "Kinsey Report". became. The books caused a storm of moral outrage. In particular, "the woman's sexual behavior" hit like an "atomic bomb," according to media reports at the time. Kinsey revealed, among other things, that one in four women have extramarital sex and far more than half do not go to the altar as virgins. The Kinsey Report reminded prudish society of its own double standards.

For the first time, masturbation, frigidity, ejaculation, fellatio, sexuality in old age or youth, anal sex and homosexuality were discussed in public. The latter was banned under criminal law in some states in the 1950s. Kinsey was of the opinion that "normal" sexual behavior should not be limited to the missionary position, but that everything is permitted as long as it is voluntary. The realization that women needed more to achieve sexual satisfaction than men had previously assumed was a real trigger for a new wave of feminism. However, there were also some influential women's groups that accused Kinsey of violating morals and values and therefore called for censorship.

Kinsey himself lived freely according to his convictions. He had himself, his wife Clara McMillen and a few volunteers filmed in various sexual activities and publicly acknowledged his preference for group sex and his bisexuality. However, this openness was not only met with tolerance. Kinsey was accused by his opponents of inducing subjects to engage in homosexual acts, masochism and pedophilia. However, these allegations were never substantiated. Although Kinsey's work was groundbreaking in removing taboos among the population and groundbreaking in the history of the Enlightenment, most of his scientific colleagues only recognized him much later. It was not until 1973 that homosexuality was recognized as a sexual attraction and no longer as a mental illness.

Alfred Charles Kinsey died of heart failure on August 25, 1956, at the age of 62. He was the father of four children.

Kinsey's pioneering work inspired several researchers after him to address the topic of sexuality, including the German-American sex researcher Shere Hite ("The Sexual Experience of Women" 1976, "The Sexual Experience of Man" 1981). But his own life also provided impetus for re-examination: T. C. Boyle published the biographical novel "Dr. Sex" in 2004. His life was also made into a film and was shown in cinemas in 2004 under the title "Kinsey", played by Liam Neeson. Although one could assume that prudery should have disappeared from the Western world by today at the latest - that is not the case. In the US state of Florida, it is illegal to perform oral sex (and kiss your wife's breasts).

The only unnatural sex act is that which you cannot perform.

There are some who have questioned the applicability of scientific
methods to an investigation of human sexual behavior... as though the
dietitian and biochemist were denied the right to analyze foods and the
process of nutrition, because the cooking and proper serving of food
may be rated a fine art, and because the eating of certain foods has
been considered a matter for religious regulation. [on critics of his
pioneering investigations into human sexual behavior]

We are the recorders and reporters of facts - not the judges of the behaviors we describe.

Quotes

Alfred Kinsey

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