1894-1956
Zoologist, Sex Researcher

Controversial Sex Researcher.

Early Years.

Research on Gall Wasps.

Examining Human Sexuality.

Beginning Research.

Kinsey's Methods.

Controversial Findings.

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male sold almost 250,000 copies. Both studies shocked traditional moralists. Kinsey's research on men revealed that masturbation and heterosexual petting were nearly universal and that more than a third of adult males had had some homosexual experience. While the range and frequency of women's experiences were narrower than males, his findings also changed the conventional view of women's sexual behavior. More than three-fifths of women surveyed engaged in masturbation; 90 percent participated in petting; half engaged in premarital intercourse; and a quarter had had extramarital sexual relations. Kinsey's findings were sharply at odds with the American public's ideas about their fellow citizens' sexual mores, and his dispassionate statistical presentation challenged Americans to revise their sexual values to match their sexual behavior...