The Kinsey Reports: sex surveyed (lecture and reading)

Why was Kinsey's data so impactful?

Kinsey found that many people had sexual experiences with members of both sexes. 50% of the men and 28% of the women in his studies had been aroused by, or had sexual experiences with, someone of the same-sex 38% of the men and 13% of the women has orgasms during these experiences. Sexual preference could change over the course of a person's lifetime. It is erroneous to classify people as either heterosexual or homosexual - sexuality was significantly more complex and fluid. Outcry = reported many same sex behaviours 50% of men, aroused by or sexual behaviours with another man and orgasms reported Documenting sexual behaviour - not linking to what you do to our identity (conceptualised sexual research - not identity asked for, people in data set seemly hetero but engaging in same sex behaviours) Kinsey scale = preference for sexual orientation change over the lifetime, hetero or homo = too simplistic categories, doesn't capture complexity of our sexual behaviours

Kinsey: Key contributions

Kinsey's survey remains the most important survey of American sexual behaviour. Before Kinsey, we had little information about peoples' sexual practices. Sexual diversity and variation, rejection of the normal/abnormal dichotomy, re-evaluation of masturbation, and same-sex behaviour. "The only unnatural sex act is the one that can't be performed" (Kinsey). => One of the most important pieces of research on sexual behaviour =>Not much on sexual practises because of religious culture => Learnt a lot from him - sexual diversity: varied => Contributions : breaking down binary or norm and abnormal => Whatever you can do is natural <3 => Re evaluation of masturbation and same sex behaviour => Major centre for sex research =>made it possible to speak openly about sex -Ignored psychosocial factors of sexual activity

Criticisms of Kinsey's survey method

His work has also been criticised for: (a) the emphasis on the quantification of sexual behaviour and (b) his rejection of the psychological dimension. Kinsey's statistical methodology (100% sampling) has been criticised. Kinsey's samples did not represent the general population - people of colour, people in rural areas, older people, the poor, and Catholics and Jews were all underrepresented. Prisoners, college graduates and Protestants were over represented. Just quanti - psych dimension needs quali too Methods = prison populations critique, multiple from this population (same sex pop inc in prisons) institutional bisexuality (victim of circumstance?) Take what's available Girls and boys boarding schools - 'encourages' same sex behaviour Perhaps this is why homosexuality was so high Recruited through lesbian and gay associations = consider lens at which we look at this through Under representations of minority communities, over representations of younger, urban, white people, middle class, less catholics and jews

The data gathering phase: Main question areas

1. Social economic data 2. Marital histories 3. Sex education - knowledge, observations, attitudes 4. Physical and physiologic data (adolescence, genital characters, erotic responsiveness) - development, menstrual cycles 5. Nocturnal sex dreams - masturbation frowned upon 6.Masturbation 7. Heterosexual history - different sex behaviours, first touched body, engaged in pre-marriage sex behaviours, marital intercourse, frequency, additional marital relations, prostitution, type of sex - sex positions (indepth) 8. Homosexual history - similar to hetero questions 9. Animal contacts - controversial

Kinsey's background

Collected wasp galls in a systematic fashion which he was able to transfer across to survey data collection in humans Once he started teaching a marriage course at his university, he started to investigate sexual practises As an academic, his work was somewhat controversial but he was seen as someone with the appropriate credentials

Kinsey: key contributions - masturbation

Masturbation: is harmless. => not a substitute for coitus but a distinct form of sexual behaviour that provides sexual pleasure. => plays an important role in women's sexuality because (a) it is a more reliable source of orgasm than coitus and (b) its practice facilitates women's ability to become orgasmic during coitus. => Changed our understandings on masturbation => Useful for measuring women's inherent response => Male conceit - women masturbated using penis substitute - dispel this myth => Masterbated to orgasm in women = more likely to masterbate during sex => Frequency of masturbation data gathered - all men and women masterbate (96% - 4% are lying) => Alternative sexual outlet other than own, less likely to masterbate => Frequency to related to religious beliefs/ strengths of this - more religious < masterbate Brought about wide scale publis disscussion of human sexuality Brought homosexuality out into the open, provided underpinnings for its acceptance Challenged myths around female sexuality which helped the feminist movement

Why is having an understanding of the assumptions underlying the researcher's definition of sex important?

Potentially different for gay and straight people if you include the notion of penetration Definitions of sexual acts justify behaviour 'it was just a kiss it doesn't mean anything' Definition of sex is important, we need to make sure we are decribing rather than perscribing behaviour eg: Masters and Johnson assumed that a full sexual response involved an orgasm - lead to the perscription of this behaviour

The interviewing method

Prologue (2-10 minutes) Data-gathering phase (least → most sensitive questions) Concluding phase ('cooling off') => very aware of potential bias in what people convey, so interrogated answers to come to the truth => Standardised set of questions =>varied in structure - what questions were asked were dependent on the participants knowledge of the study/ subject matter => Consent made clear to participants => Moral judgements not to be made were made clear => Tried not to have objects between interviewer and interviewee to prevent barriers => No euphemisms used - only specific questions about behaviour

Kinsey: Reception of SBITHM

Reception of human male and female = not always positive, outcry Concern = women could have same sexual pleasure - not needing a penis, cliteros threat to male invovlement

Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956) and colleagues

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) These statistically documented the sexual behaviour of 1000s of people in the US. The demonstrated a great discrepancy between public standards and actual sexual behaviour. => 2 key publications: male and female volume => This work has massively influenced the modern era of sexual understanding => 5th Jaan 1948 he published 100,000 copies of the male volume => By mid march they had sold out => This showed that although the book was written in an academic format, it took public interest by storm => impacted on the cultural norms around sexual practises => For 27 weeks it was a best seller => The kinsey reports shocked the public because they didn't fit with the cultural norms of values surrounding sexual behaviours Female volume was less critical of assumptions, but he wrote a more well rounded treatment for sexual dysfunction

Kinsey Scale

Still used to identify sexual orientation - not designed to do this however Exclusive hetero - exclusive homo Eg: 3 = bisexual (technically 1-5) Kinsey opened up discussions on bisexuality (he rarely used this word however, more interested in what people did rather than identity/ definitions surrounding this)

Kinsey: Method

Surveys - how, when and how often people behaved sexually Between 1938 and 1956 Kinsey and his colleagues collected information from almost 20,000 people Kinsey himself conducted 8,000 interviews! =>Took a systematic approach and coded all responses => This allowed for participants to feel safe and encouraged to share => un-analysed data still remains at the Kinsey institute => interviews lasted 1-3hours, one participant spent 17 hours! Examined the lack of research which had tried to sample from different social and economic backgrounds Previous research were unable to obtain truthful responses about sexual practises due to taboo subject Didn't agree with Kraft-Ebing or Hirschfeld = not object enough

Tiefer (1995)

The most basic, and also most difficult, aspect of studying sexuality is defining the subject-matter. What is to be included? How much of the body is relevant? How much of the life span? Is sexuality an individual dimension or a dimension of a relationship? Which behaviours, thoughts, or feelings qualify as sexual - an unreturned glance? any hug? daydreams about celebrities? fearful memories of abuse? When can we use similar language for animals and people, if at all?

Kinsey's results

Time consuming - even just the background data Male and female data comparable with marital coitus = the same numbers coming up Estimations = no huge scale study done since, many critiques of the research BUT nothing like this has been conducted since, and those that have show similar results to what Kinsey found 1/10 - homosexual (came about from Kinsey's research) 1/100 more recent research - challenged Marriage - positions, 70% of populations = only had sex in missionary position (hetero)

Kinsey

Used a survey of close ended questions to further understand specific sexual practises He had an academic background which allowed his work to be conducted under the appropriate circumstances Believed that it was important to not let subjective judgements get in the way of interpretation Took an objective approach, even when asking about illegal sex practises

Outcomes of the Kinsey Reports

¾ of men 4/5 of women = hetero Aruged for breakdown of binaries of white bearedded men Not just 2 categories - no black and white 'we are not all sheep or goats'