Alfred Kinsey, 1955. Public Domain |
Reformer, Alfred Kinsey, stated that homosexuality was not a medical
condition, yet gay men were still thrown into prison or labelled schizophrenic.
Alfred
Kinsey, (1894-1956) was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1920, he was awarded a
Ph.D. from Harvard University, and went on to teach zoology at Indiana
University. In 1942, he founded The Institute for Sex Research at Indiana
University.
Kinsey's Book - A Challenge to
Freudian Beliefs
His enquiries
into human sexuality led him to publish Sexual
Behavior in the Human Male (1948).
According to Encyclopaedia
Britannica, "These reports, based on 18,500 personal interviews,
received extraordinary publicity for their conclusions about contemporary
sexual mores and behaviour." They certainly challenged Freudian beliefs
that homosexuality was due to psychiatric disturbance.
For Kinsey,
all individuals fitted on a continuum of sexual preferences - and might, during
their lifetime, shift from one part of the scale to another. Men in category 1
had no interested in homosexual outlets, while category 6 men preferred nothing
else. Men often moved between the categories during their lives. According to
author, Andrew Wykholm, the book became a bestseller, while provoking
controversy and dissent.
I Have a Right to my Life
Meantime, in
spite of the Kinsey Report, homosexuality was still regarded as a medical
condition or a disease that could, perhaps, be medically treated. A young man
brought up on two indecency charges, reported in The Argus on 3 January 1952, was offered choices
between becoming a voluntary patient at a mental hospital or being jailed. He
had already been in custody for three weeks pending medical reports. It was
claimed he needed treatment for schizophrenia. He told the magistrate that he
had a right to a decent life and was sent to prison for two months. "I've
got my life to live," he said.
"He never
hid his sexuality. He was honest to himself in every respect," said the
report.
Kinsey - Accused of Weakening
American Morals
Some time later, in 1953, Kinsey's Sexual
Behaviour in the Human Female appeared,
and caused outrage when he said that lesbians were better at giving partners a
climax than males. He also claimed that women who had premarital sex
experienced more orgasms after marriage.
Andrew Wikholm
adds that some congressmen suspected Alfred Kinsey of being a "fifth
columnist" working to erode America's morals and weaken her against the
communists.
Alfred
Kinsey's research grant was withdrawn after his unpopular claims were published
in Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female.
Sources:
·
Kinsey, A. Sexual
Behaviour in the Human Male (1948)
·
Kinsey, A. Sexual
Behaviour in the Human Female (1953)
·
Wikholm, A. Social
Constructionist History Link, Last
Accessed 14 February 2012.
·
Staff Reporter, "Man Held on Indecency
Charges," The Argus 3
January, 1952.
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