The Kinsey Report at Sixty

Alfred C. Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was published sixty years ago today. Groundbreaking and controversial as it was in a genuinely homophobic society, Kinsey’s book was the first step towards a greater acceptance of homosexual men. But it was more than that. Kinsey’s study of male sexuality revealed not only that homosexual encounters are common, but also that men in general are not made for monogamy.

Kinsey’s findings have been fiercely criticised over the years. And rightfully so. The men Kinsey interviewed were not representative of the American male. But despite its flaws, the book—with its open-minded approach to human sexuality—is perhaps the most important milestone in sexology.

Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories… The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. (A. C. Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.)

Kinsey became famous for his scale, which he used to determine whether a man was gay, straight, or just a little bent. Where are you on the Kinsey scale? From the Kinsey Institute website:

0. Exclusively heterosexual with no homosexual
1. Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
2. Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3. Equally heterosexual and homosexual
4. Predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5. Predominantly homosexual, only incidentally heterosexual
6. Exclusively homosexual

Read more at Box Turtle Bulletin.

(Via Niclas Berggren.)