Introduction
American society has mistakenly viewed Alfred Kinsey as a normal man. If he's acknowledged at all as an individual, he may be seen as a simpleton who has studied biology, entomology, zoology, and sexology. Or, he may be seen as a hero who has broken through the "oppressive" culture and boldly declared that sexuality should be celebrated with respect, openness, and mutuality. Someone who pushed for his beliefs with his "groundbreaking research" and transformed Western culture into what it is today. However, for all that he has been praised for, very few seem concerned let alone aware with who he truly is: an evil man.
DR. MIRIAM GROSSMAN
Last year, I had the privilege of reading the book You're Teaching My Child What? by Dr. Miriam Grossman, a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. Her book exposes sex educations and shows how it is affecting kids and teenagers, and what parents should be doing about it. Only twenty pages into the book, Dr. Grossman introduces a man named Alfred Kinsey. I had heard of him once before, but as I began talking about him with friends, including a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, they had never heard of him before, which was interesting because of the impact he had on America and sex education. It was not until I read about him that I realized why he's been overlooked.
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT ALFRED KINSEY
(This is coming straight from an essay I wrote)
Kinsey had a troubling mind. He believed that humans are pansexual, and that, naturally, they would become sexually active early in life. His authorized biographer, James Jones, explained Kinsey’s beliefs: “[Humans] enjoy intercourse with both sexes, indulg[ing] in a variety of behaviors, and eschew[ed] fidelity (qtd. in Grossman, 21). Kinsey was a miserably grotesque man who spent his life sexually abusing himself. Whether that was shoving “foreign objects—straws, pipe cleaners, pencils, and toothbrushes—into his penis[,]” or “suspending himself in the air by a rope tied around his scrotum[,]” he was obsessed with sexual pleasure and pain, which can only be described as masochistic. His addiction to self-harming pleasure led to his genitals’ being traumatized, which put him in the hospital for months (21). As if that were not enough, he and his wife, along with staff members, graduate students, their wives, and sadomasochistic men, performed sexual activities in his recording studio. He demonstrated various masturbatory techniques to staff members and was in favor of adult-child molestation. However, torturing himself and living out a sex consumed life was not all he accomplished in his sixty-two years (22).
ALFRED KINSEY'S RESEARCH
(This is coming straight from an essay I wrote)
Kinsey researched human sexuality and produced results that transformed Western culture. “Assisted by two colleagues, he interviewed thousands of volunteers about their personal lives,” Dr. Grossman writes, “[asking them questions] such as: Do you masturbate? Engage in homosexuality? Adultery? Beastiality?” Based on these interviews, Kinsey generated statistics, diagrams, and charts in a report on men in 1948, and in a report on women in 1953, and concluded that no one was truly heterosexual or homosexual. Heterosexuality is only “a result of social pressures which tend to force an individual into an exclusive pattern” (qtd. in Grossman, 23). But, like most sex educators’ research, his was riddled with flaws. His samples were minuscule, he focused on prisoners, and he was limited to volunteers for his data. Lawrence Kubie, a Yale professor, claimed Kinsey’s report possessed “inaccurate data, wholly unwarranted implications, distortions, errors, exaggerations, errors in sampling, interviewing, and treatment of statistics … ideas that are patently absurd” (qtd. in Grossman, 24). Kubie exposed Kinsey’s work and explained that if a certain human behavior is widespread, does not make it normal. “In times of epidemic the common cold may afflict more than 50% of the population. This, however, does not make colds normal” (qtd. in Grossman, 24).
As bothersome as Kinsey was, his theories prevailed, well-rounded critics were ignored, and society welcomed his ideas with open arms. Now, a man who worshiped horrid sexual behavior, and was never a student of human biology or psychology (21), is the face of sexual education. “Today’s sexual mores,” Dr. Grossman writes, “sex offender laws, and “safer sex” curricula are founded on his ideology and research” (25). Planned Parenthood, a company trusted by thousands of misled people, and a company that promises to care about the individual’s health, wishes Kinsey a happy birthday on its website every June 23rd, praising him for his work and the boldness he had to “[tear] through the century-old veils of hypocrisy” (qtd. in Grossman 27). Kinsey was a troubled man, and yet he is the foundation of what the children of America are being taught.
AFTER HIS DEATH
Kinsey’s belief and influence didn’t die with him. According to Dr. Grossman, his close followers continued his work. Whether that was leading universities, creating organizations (such as SIECUS), directing Planned Parenthood (Mary Calderone), and establishing institutes. Specifically, the Advanced Institute of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, which certified people to be children sex educators (25). They had set out to continue Kinsey’s legacy with one goal in mind: “transforming how American children were taught about sex” (27).
TAKEAWAY
After reading You’re Teaching My Child What? and writing about Alfred Kinsey for my essay, I was taken aback. Sex education would not be the same without him. Was it not clear that he was mentally unstable? That he was trying to show that he was normal? I am so glad Dr. Grossman made me aware of this, and I hope that with the glimpse into madness I have given you, you’re aware too. I strongly suggest you read You’re Teaching My Child What? It’s a well written book that exposed sex education for what it truly is.
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