Dr. Kinsey's Sex Revolution.

Dr. Kinsey's Sex Revolution. The religious right and other conservatives are having a field daywith the opening of the film, Kinsey, which was released nationwide onNovember 12 to resounding re��sound?v. re��sound��ed, re��sound��ing, re��soundsv.intr.1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children.2. critical acclaim. Kinsey's critics takeno notice of uncanny portrayals by Liam Neeson and Laura Linney asAlfred Kinsey and his wife, "Mac," nor the fascinatingscreenplay and direction by Bill Condon. Instead, the anti-choice, anti-sex ed, abstinence-until-marriagecrowd have seized upon this telling of a very powerful story as justanother opportunity to shriek from op-ed pages across the country thatKinsey destroyed American values about sex and sexuality. That he did itwith the connivance The furtive consent of one person to cooperate with another in the commission of an unlawful act or crime—such as an employer's agreement not to withhold taxes from the salary of an employee who wants to evade federal Income Tax. of organizations like ours, and that he was acriminal and a pervert to boot. This of course gives us the opportunityto say a few words about the facts. Changing a World's Values Kinsey's work certainly did change the world's valuesabout human sexuality--but most would agree that the world was yearningfor that change, and that we are all the better for it. Kinsey'sscientific investigations resulted in two thunderously popular volumesof landmark sex research that tore through century-old veils ofhypocrisy about all things sexual. By unveiling widespread sexualbehaviors throughout the U.S., Kinsey and his team of researchersdemonstrated unheard of truths: [section] women and men masturbate mas��tur��batev.To perform an act of masturbation. [section] women and men have sex before marriage and outside ofmarriage [section] women and men enjoy oral and/or anal sex play [section] women experience orgasm by clitoral clitoralpertaining to or emanating from the clitoris.clitoral hypertrophymay occur in Cushing's syndrome as a result of increased androgens produced by a hyperplastic or neoplastic adrenal cortex. stimulation [section] many, many women and men have same-sex sexual fantasiesand experiences. Well, duh. But religious conservatives did not take the news solightly. From Stigma to Self-Acceptance Kinsey's opponents take him to task for suggesting all thesebehaviors were normal. If normal means "typical""conforming to a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type,"then that is, of course, exactly what Kinsey did, and he did itdefinitively. The descriptions of sex and sexuality in both ofKinsey's best-sellers--Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) andSexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)--were based on spokeninterviews with 18,000 women and men. The survey instrument that Kinsey and his team memorized had from350 to 521 questions--no sexual possibility was overlooked. In hisbooks, he presents his team's findings in winding, and sometimeswindy, narratives and more concise charts and graphs. All in all, it waseasy for millions of his readers to recognize themselves in these pages.Finding that they were far from alone in their desires and preferences,millions of readers were able to free themselves of the stigma ofabnormality that their more selfrighteous fellow citizens were all towilling to mark them with. From Self-Acceptance to Law Lawyers have sex, too. Like others from all walks of life, lawyersof the day also read Kinsey. They, too, found themselves, their friends,and members of their families in his pages. They asked themselves: Ifall these sexual behaviors are so apparently normal, isn't it wrongfor us to throw people in jail for enjoying them? In this way, Kinsey had a mighty impact on the formation of thehighly influential American Law Institute's Model Penal Code The Model Penal Code (MPC) is one of the most important developments in American law, and perhaps the most important influence on American Criminal Law since it was completed in 1962. of1955, which called for the decriminalization decriminalizationn. the repeal or amendment (undoing) of statutes which made certain acts criminal, so that those acts no longer are crimes or subject to prosecution. of various kinds ofprivate, consensual sex play. This was a turning point in sexual law. Adecade later, privacy became the cornerstone of the U.S. Supreme Courtdecision in Griswold v. Connecticut Griswold v. Connecticut,case decided in 1965 by the U.S. Supreme Court, establishing a right to privacy in striking down a Connecticut ban on the sale of contraceptives. The Court, through Justice William O. , which granted married couples theright to use contraceptives. In 1967, privacy was cited by the court in it's declarationthat interracial marriage was constitutionally valid. In 1972, the courtdeclared that unmarried couples had a right to use birth control. A yearlater, on the heels of Eisenstadt v Baird, privacy was again cited inRoe v. Wade--ending nearly a century of unsafe abortion in the U.S.--andmost recently, last year, in Lawrence v. Texas The Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S., 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), striking down state Sodomy laws as applied to gays and lesbians. , privacy was the winningargument to overthrow same-sex sodomy laws nationwide. Kinsey'svalidation of human sexuality has taken us a long, long way. Hate the Sin, Not the Sinner. Like lawyers and other people, Kinsey had sex, too. He also foundhimself in his work and in the pages of his books. His personal journeyto escape sexual stigma and gain self-acceptance is one of the storiesthat makes the film about him so powerful. The religious right, however, does not view his story in the sameway. It is fond of justifying homophobia, and other elements of theculture wars, with the ambivalent slogan, "Hate the sin, not thesinner." In Kinsey's case, the right is quite willing to damnthe sinner as well. Citing some of Kinsey's own sexual explorations, thepossibility that he may have been not entirely straight, that he mighthave belonged to a sexual minority, and that he had recreational sexoutside of a loving, dedicated, unbroken marriage, is just more fodderfor their ideological grist mills. The right demonizes Kinsey for hisexploration of his sex life, for his impact on ours, and for notreporting the people he interviewed to the police! Not Always Likeable Kinsey was a genius. He was also a lot like a lot of the rest ofus. He was, by many accounts opinionated, ornery or��ner��y?adj. or��ner��i��er, or��ner��i��estMean-spirited, disagreeable, and contrary in disposition; cantankerous.[Alteration of ordinary. , obsessive, and, onmore than one occasion, offensive. But with a wide heart, he opened theworld's eyes to its sexuality. That is what we remember him for.His personal human frailties do not diminish the positive impact hiswork has had on our lives, even on the lives of those who take him totask for his. There were sex scientists before Kinsey, and many came after him,but his unique contributions sped our way to understanding a core beliefthat we hold dearly today: Sexuality is an essential, lifelong aspect ofbeing human and should be celebrated with respect, openness, andmutuality. This belief is fundamental to the Planned Parenthood mission,vision, and promise, i.e., The free and joyous expression of one'sown sexuality is central to being fully human. Thank you, Dr. Kinsey. by Jon Knowles Director, Public Information, PPFA PPFA Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (since 1916; New York City, NY, USA)PPFA Professional Picture Framers AssociationPPFA Page Printer Formatting Aid (IBM) Reprinted with permission from Planned Parenthood[R] Federation ofAmerica, Inc. [c] 2004 PPFA. All rights reserved.