Alfred Charles Kinsey is an American biologist who initially started his career as a professor in zoology and, research work in taxonomy with special interest in gall wasp. Then in 1938, Kinsey took over coordination of a marriage course, and soon after began gathering case histories of sexual behavior. This began his interest in human sexuality and thus furthered research studies. His research works on human sexuality are considered as a pioneering milestone.
Among his popular research works are the Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1952). During his time the topic of human sexuality is still considered as a taboo. Study regarding sexuality was only limited under biology and medical studies. It was Kinsey who radically introduced the topic of human sexuality as a social science. He was a pioneer of modernism and philosopher of sexuality (Gathorne, 2000). The research works of Kinsey have awakened the acknowledgement of gender and sexuality in society.
Homosexual behaviors and bisexuality were furthered investigated, Kinsey has developed a ‘Homosexual/Heterosexual Balance’ and 0-6 Kinsey Scale which measure sexual identities and are categorized according to behavior (Bancroft, 2005). The Kinsey scale pointed out that individuals fit on a continuum of sexual preferences are arranged on a six point scale. Men grouped in category 1 feel not even a twinge of sexual interest in homosexual outlets while those in category 6 prefer nothing else, however men often move between categories during their lifetimes.
Kinsey is also noted in his founding of the Institute for Sex Research Inc (Encarta, 2007). Kinsey’s works and studies have paved way to further studies and more scientific approaches to sexual behavior. Research work of Kinsey was criticized particularly in his sample statistics and his biased view on bisexuality and sexual behaviors. An example of his biased claim on sexual behavior is his standpoint that male sex is a total sexual outlet.
Another controversy stirred when Kinsey reported that married women who had premarital sexual experience had more orgasms after they married and, lesbians were better at inducing climax than males (Wikholm, 1999). When Kinsey published the Sexual Behavior in the Human Female his goal was to educate people that women are equally sexual as males, however he was accused for attacking the sanctity of womanhood. Weakness of his studies is basically evident in his statistical data. The scientific community does not accept Kinsey’s approach on sampling data.
He was believed to have biased sampling that generated to extreme data results that were in favor of his desired outcome. “There was over sampling of rare sexual behaviors in order to have enough of each variety from which to draw useful conclusions” (Bancroft, 2005). Data in his study indicated that at least 37 percent of the male population has some homosexual experience between the beginning of adolescence and old age (Kinsey, 1948). There was also under sampling wherein the sample was limited that filtered out the data.
A statistician review group stated that he has lack of caution in interpreting his finding, and does incorrect use of statistical procedures. Even though Kinsey has flaws in his studies he is still regarded for his momentous contribution to sexual research development.
References Bancroft, J. (2005). Alfred Kinsey’s work 50 years on. [Electronic Version]. Retrieved September 18, 2007. Encarta (2007). “Alfred Kinsey”. Encarta Online Encyclopedia. http://encarta. msn. com. Retrieved September 18, 2007. Gathorne, J. (2000). Sex the Measure of All Things A Life of Alfred C. Kinsey. Indiana University Press.