It’s a scale of a tale today Queerstians. Just how homo are you? There’s one man who decided to investigate over 12,000 people to find out. Dr. Alfred Kinsey left his work studying gall wasps to research sex. And frankly, we think he made the right decision. Join us as we discuss the first legitimate...
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It’s a scale of a tale today Queerstians. Just how homo are you? There’s one man who decided to investigate over 12,000 people to find out. Dr. Alfred Kinsey left his work studying gall wasps to research sex. And frankly, we think he made the right decision.
Join us as we discuss the first legitimate research study on sex in the United States, and one of the most well known reports of all time. Kinsey’s findings and his scale of homosexuality would earn him the title “Father of the Sexual Revolution”. So hit that play button and learn more about this bisexual hero and sex positive pioneer.
Our episode today covers one of the most well known research studies in modern history, and a landmark analysis for queer rights, the Kinsey scale. In January of 1948 the world was attempting to recover from the devastation of World War 2. The global tragedy had ended just 2 ½ years earlier, and governments at home and abroad were struggling to rebuild. In America, a new war had started. The war against communism and homosexuality. The term Red Scare was the title carried in headlines. But Lavender Scare is the more accurate description. It’s estimated that close to 10,000 federal employees lost their jobs due to accusations of communism that can be traced back to sexual deviancy. A term used to describe homosexuals. Many of those fired were also forced to endure public, federal hearings. And many more were imprisoned or sent away to asylums simply because they were queer.
And it was at the beginning of this eruption of turmoil that professor Alfred Kinsey published his 820 page research study on Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. He was a zoologist from Indiana University who inexplicably had decided to switch his research focus to human sexuality. The first page dedicated the book to: The twelve thousand persons who have contributed to this data and the eighty-eight thousand more who, someday, will help complete this study. And in the preface the book boldly stated:
Certianly no aspect of human biology in our current civilization stands in more need of scientific knowledge and courageous humility than that of sex. The history of medicine proves that insofar as man seeks to know himself and face his own nature, he has become free from bewildered fear, despondent shame, or arrant hypocrisy. As long as sex it dealt with in the current confusion of ignorance and sophistication, denial and indulgence, supression and stimulation, punishment and exploitation, secrecy and display, it will be associated with a duplicity and indeceny that lead to neither intellectual honesty nor human dignity.
The books was the most comprehensive and in depth study on sexuality ever published in America. And it was one of the first studies that largely diverted from the traditional writings about deviant sex. Meaning any sex outside of heterosexual marriage. The Kinsey reports would split open the discussion about sex in America and this is why many have dubbed Kinsey the Father of the Sexual Revolution. What is possibly most astounding about this report, and the one which would follow 5 years later – Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, is how popular they were. As one can imagine, an 800+ page scientific discourse on anything is bound to be a bit dry. Let alone a research published by a zoologist best known for his studies on gall wasps. Yet both books would stay at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for weeks. Even after the Times initially refused to advertise of even review the book.
So who the hell was this Alfred Kinsey anyway? Born on June 23, 1894, in Hoboken, New Jersey Afred’s parents were poor, devout methodists. It was often said that Alfred Sr. was the most devoted christian in Hoboken. Unfortunately, his allegiance to the church seemed to supersede all else and his children struggled benea...