Sex Will Never Be the Same: The Contributions of Alfred C. Kinsey

Abstract

Kinsey built upon what other European and American researchers had done, but in his male volume he was much more critical of his predecessors than he was in the female volume. Although he mentioned many of the European sex researchers, several were conspicuous by their absence and, at times, he seemed very moralistic (e.g., that Hirschfeld was not an objective researcher because of his campaign for gay rights or the failure of H. Ellis to have face-to-face contact with his participants). He had little positive to say about psychiatrists in general, although he imparted a more positive message in the female volume. If bibliographical citations are any example, Kinsey explored much more widely in the social sciences in the female volume than he did in the male volume, indicating that he himself acquired greater expertise over the years. Certainly, the female volume was a more well rounded treatment. Overall, the effect of his books was to change the way people looked at sex; indeed, sex could never be the same again.