Alfred Kinsey 's Research On Sexual Orientation

Kinsey’s rise was slow and steady. Mostly due to his diligent work on a topic that almost seemed forbidden to talk about at the time. A concept that was once attributed for just married couples. Many people at the time believed that sex was only for wedded couples, leaving no room for objection. People of the time scoffed at ideas such as premarital sex, homosexuality and other sexuality that appeared peculiar. Kinsey changed American culture and a created a media frenzy when he released his first work, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.” Which he then went on several interviews, discussions and panels to discuss sex. Kinsey was a Harvard-educated zoologist who enjoyed studying gull wasps it was not until he met his spunky yet witty wife, Clara “Mac” McMillen that he became interested in the idea of sex. While teaching and experimenting he realized that there was science evidence behind sex and behavior. When

The ethical standings of Kinsey have been examined numerous times, for the subject matter alone is open for scrutiny. The first rule of ethics states that the participants of scientific research must provide informed consent. All of the almost 12,000 participants of Kinsey’s surveys gave their consent (Griffitt and Hatfield). The next rule of ethics is voluntary participation of the test subjects. All participants in Kinsey’s surveys voluntarily agreed to participate (Griffitt and Hatfield). The problem, however, was when Kinsey used data collected from home videos he made in his attic or when he tested the sexuality of children (Keith). Many of the children in these experiments were sexually assaulted by an adult, which is not a consented act, yet Kinsey used the data to help prove his theories (Keith). The third rule of ethics is restricting the use of deception and debriefing the participants at the end of the experiment. The participants in Kinsey’s research were not deceived when they were answering his surveys, which did not require deception or debriefing (Griffitt and Hatfield). Confidentiality is the next rule of ethics, and Kinsey never disclosed the identities of the participants (Griffitt and Hatfield). The final rule of

This gave the reader a sense of where sexology was at the time before he began studying that field. The two most prominent names in sexual research were Havelock Ellis, a physician who received his medical degree to safety study sex, and Magnus Hirschfield, a physician who would later be classified as a sexual historian. The two physicians had a hands-off approach to their research where a large portion of their findings were, “usually interpreted in terms of traditional views and were supplemented by historical materials or reports of anthropologists” (54). This quote was meant to describe how the practices of early sexologists were flawed in that their research based more on philosophies rather than actual contact with people. Kinsey took a much different approach and was not afraid to ask anyone about topics ranging from female orgasms to masturbation, as he, “gathered his data wherever he could find it, but he also reported the source of his data” (59). The quote previously mentioned by Bullough provided an effective argument for the claim that Kinsey was able to push the boundaries on sexuality by sampling anyone he could about the topic, which went against the previous how researchers went about gather material since

Despite the large collection of literature of sexuality that has been accumulating, human asexuality has been largely ignored. Asexuality is controversially considered to be a sexual orientation and people who identify as asexual are people who typically do not experience sexual attraction (Asexuality Visibility and Education Network, 2013). Though research on sex and sexual orientations has been done for centuries, the first real suggestion that there might be people who fall outside of the heterosexual – homosexual orientation spectrum came from Kinsey and colleagues in 1948. These individuals were put into a separate category and were identified as having no erotic response to hetero- or homosexual stimuli, but otherwise they were

Alfred Kinsey remains one of the most controversial biologist & human sexologist even 60 years after his death. Kinsey broke many taboos with his studies dealing with human sexuality such as masturbation, homosexuality, and premarital sex. While many of his methods was criticized by his peers, the field of psychology & human sexuality would not be where it is without him. Alfred Kinsey was born in Hoboken, NJ in 1894(1). His parents were very strict Christian Methodists who were involved in the church. Kinsey as a child endured very bad health and spent many of his years of his childhood secluded only interacting with his parishioners. It was noted that a young Kinsey like many other young boys and girls experimented with preadolescent sex such as self-exploration. During this time the Victorian era sex was looked as something taboo which drove him to great feeling of guiltiness and shame. These ill feelings toward his sexuality would be one of the determining factors toward his work later. Despite these transgressions Kinsey grew to have an interest for the outdoors by joining the boy’s scout team at his local YMCA (2).

Subtract the opinion polls and the ‘gays function well in the workplace’ add the normalisation of sexual deviancy by the Kinsey report.

According to Kinsey, diverse sexuality is not simply a genetic makeup, but based on attraction (1948). Similar to Diamond's ideas of sexual fluidity, there is a broad scale of sexuality that exists within people. The Kinsey scale demonstrates sexual fluidity and its challenge, to heteronormativity by variation between exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual. Kinsey like Diamond shows that people engage in same sex practice because of personal desires and certain conditions. Without much thought, in the moment of sex the main priority is to release sexual tension. I remember watching a video in a psychology class called “Kinsey” at the University of California Santa Cruz. It was about how Kinsey devolved his sexual variation scale

Open marriages are a form of relationship first brought into the public eye by Alfred Kinsey in the 1960s. Since then, the idea of approved extra-martial affairs have become even more popular, despite the uneducated critics hollering about it being an insult to the institution of marriage, or a way to justify cheating on one’s significant other. As open marriages start to become a more feasible option for couples looking to explore their sexuality, a common question always seems to come up; this inquiry, in fact, will be the purpose of the following text. To begin, I use examples from the 2004 biographical film Kinsey, directed by Bill Condon and produced by Gail Mutrux. While integrating discussion from Tristan Taormino and her book Opening Up: A Guide to Sustaining Open Relationships, I introduce the concept of sociosexuality with the help of Lars Penke’s Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. In creating discussion with the above names, I aim to demonstrate just what does make for a successful open relationship.

Media coverage surrounding alternative sexualities has also expanded in recent years and, in the wake of gay liberation and the emergence of lesbian and gay studies, an ever increasing flow of academic documentation pertaining to sexual orientation has flourished. We now know more about homosexual lives in general and about the experiences of particular groups such as those in prison those who offer sex in exchange for money and those who lived during particular historical periods. However, with the knowledge and awareness about what it means to be gay or lesbian has increased considerably, there remains an ignorance on a number of homosexual issues. Explanations of why sexual orientations differ are still inadequate, and in a

I think Kinsey became obsessed with human sexuality because he wanted to create change and increase the awareness of this subject. Throughout this film you can see his intensity and his drive to do research as well as studying human’s sexual acts. Not only did he want to create awareness but Kinsey also wanted to unravel all the secrets regarding human sexuality. It’s crazy to think that back then people were not willing to talk about anything sexual. In the film, it shows how people were not educated and knew little to nothing about sexuality. It blows my mind that people know almost nothing about something so natural. Now a day’s sex is everywhere. Sex is how we sell everything from perfume to cars.

I do believe that sexuality research is important. As in any health and science field there needs to be reliable information. This information is attained through research. Without scientific facts, everything is then based on hear-say or opinions, no matter if they are actually true or not. There is just no proof. Research is able to show us an unbiased view of things and accurate data. It is able to correct societal misconceptions. Without correct information about sexuality, we are unable to efficiently and accurately educate our students. For example in class, we watched the Alfred Kinsey documentary. In it Dr. Kinsey ran into some issues with the lack of sex research. He had students coming to him and asking if their sexual behaviors were

Human psychosexual development is the complex learning in today’s society. What is the meaning of sexual orientation? Obviously, it has to be related to sex. It is a way for people to choose their partners to have sex with. Most of people would say it means either interested in men or are interested in women. This is called sexual orientation. In the book Gay Straight, and the reason why written by Simon LeVay, the first chapter of talker about what sexual orientation is, “We usually judge sexual orientation based on a person sexual attraction to men and to women- that is , on her or his feelings –as expressed in answers to direct questions such as “ Are you sexually attracted to men, to women, or to both men and women?” (Page 2) The question doesn’t refer to the interviewees’ feelings of sexual attraction at the very instant of being asked, of course but to their tendency or predisposition to experience such feelings over some extended period of time, perhaps over their entire adult life. In this paragraph, Simone has described how sexual orientation formations create in a sexual orientation. Sexuality refers to a person based on sexual partner sex appeal on the basis of gender and sex want to, Heterosexual sexual orientation to the opposite sex, Gay to same-sex sexual orientation, Bisexual sexual orientation partner selection and can be either gay can also be members of

Throughout history there has been speculation about what influences sexuality in men and woman. Is sexual orientation biological or cultural in nature? There is a common misconception that sexual identity operate in parallel with gender roles( Sell, 2005 as cited in Wilkinson & Roys, 2005, p.65). Scholars have not came to an agreement regarding what actually comprise a person’s sexual orientation, however a sexual orientation has been deemed a cumulative experience and interaction of emotional and sexual feelings towards one or both genders (Wilkinson & Roys, 2005, p.65). The paper provides provides some clues as to what factors influence sexual orientation in men and woman.

As scholarly reviews started to trickle in, it became clear that there were problems with Kinsey 's work. Reviewers complained that he ignored love, emotion, and the complexities of culture. However, the most damaging critiques focused on his sampling method; questioning whether the enormous number of people, he interviewed, were a true representation of the American population. Indeed this was not an idle question, given Kinsey 's predilection for recruiting college students, prostitutes, and prison inmates to participate in the study. He rigorously interviewed thousands of Americans about their sexual histories and practices. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was published in 1948 (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948). Sexual Behavior in the

Homosexuality has become a vital topic of discussion throughout the modern world. In this paper, I talk about how my own perception regarding homosexuality has changed over a period of time. Firstly, I will provide an overview of my cultural background and my initial understanding regarding homosexuality. Secondly, I will elaborate on how my views and perception of homosexuality have evolved over time. Lastly, I will analyze what led to my belief regarding homosexuality at first place and what catalyzed the change in those beliefs eventually. Therefore, this paper is a reflection on my own evolution of perception regarding homosexuality.