Samenvatting alle literatuur Youth & Sexuality
Lecture 1a
Bullough, V. L. (1998). Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Report: Historical overview and
lasting contributions. The Journal of Sex Research, 35(2), 127- 131.
Kinsey, a biologist, brought to the study of sexual expression a taxonomic approach, an
interest in classification and description. His results challenged many widely held beliefs
about sexuality, including the belief that women were not sexual. He changed the nature of
sexual studies, forced a reexamination of public attitudes toward sex, challenged the medical
and psychiatric establishment to reassess its own views, influenced both the feminist
movement and the gay and lesbian movement, and built a library and an institution devoted
to sex research.
Sex Research, 1890-1940
The modern study of sexuality began in the nineteenth century, and these early studies were
dominated by physicians. It was assumed that since physicians were the experts on body
functions, they should be the experts regarding sexual activities. This was a divergence
from the past, when sexuality had been regarded almost entirely as a moral issue. And
although there were still moral issues involved, physicians were also judged as qualified to
speak on these issues as well. Simply put, most physicians writing about sex were
influenced more by the zeitgeist of the time rather than by any specialized base of
knowledge. Unfortunately, even the most comprehensive sex studies undertaken by
psychiatrists, such as that of George Henry, were flawed by the assumptions of the
investigators interpreting data. For example, they assumed that homosexuals were ill.
Even though one of the major reasons the CRPS (Committee for Research in the Problems
in Sex) had been created in 1921 was to complete general studies on sexual behaviors,
the committee members were either unwilling or unable to find a person to carry out this
kind of study. There is considerable evidence to indicate that the committee members were
uncomfortable with studies on actual sexual behavior and much preferred to fund what might
be called bench (i.e., laboratory-based) scientists to social scientists. Unfortunately for the
committee, sex activity could not be studied exclusively in the laboratory or even in the field
by observing animals or gathering historical data. What was needed was a person willing to
blaze new trails, dispassionately examining sex without the preconceived notions of most of
the physicians then involved in writing about sex. The qualified individual or individuals
needed an academic connection, preferably one with an established reputation for scientific
studies.
Kinsey Comes on the Scene
He was a biologist but started giving courses on family and marriage. The approach to sex
within this course was sex-positive for this time, and clashed with the hygiene approach to
sex. The hygiene approach to sex emphasized the dangers of sexually transmitted
diseases and masturbation. The hygiene approach to sex generally believed that sexual
behavior could not and should not be analyzed by scientific methods because it was a
moral topic, not a scientific one.
In contrast to this, Kinsey approached sex as a taxonomist – as one interested in classifying
and describing. Later, he taught less and focused on sex research. He researched by
doing extensive interviews. Kinsey strongly believed that people would not always tell the
truth when questioned about their sexual activities and that the only way to deal with this
was through personal interviews in which the contradictions could be explored. He did not
believe that self-administered questionnaires produced accurate responses: He
regarded them as encouraging dishonest answers. He also recognized that respondents
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, might lie even in a personal interview, but he provided a variety of checks to detect this and
believed his checks were successful
What Kinsey Did
Kinsey's major accomplishment was to challenge most of the assumptions about sexual
activity in the United States. In so doing, he aroused great antagonism among many who
opposed making sexual issues a matter of public discussion and debate. One reason for the
antagonism is that he brought to public notice many sexual practices that previously
had not been publicly discussed.
Most sex researchers today accept the fact that total objectivity in our field is probably
impossible. Some of Kinsey's difficulty resulted from his belief that he could be totally
objective. He did not realize that the way he organized his data sometimes could challenge
his objectivity, even though the organization seemed logical. He did not trust people's self-
classification as homosexual or heterosexual. Therefore, he decided that regardless of how
they might have classified themselves, the only objective indicator that he could use was to
define sex in terms of outlet → namely, what activity resulted in orgasms.
• Although his data demonstrated that far more people were identified as
exclusively heterosexual than as any other category, his scale also implied that
homosexuality was just another form of sexual activity. For his time and place
this was revolutionary. His discussion of homosexuality and its prevalence resulted in
the most serious attacks upon him and his data.
Criticism of Kinsey
• One of his more criticized sections in recent years is the table based on data he
gathered from pedophiles.
o He is accused of not turning these people over to authorities, although one of
the major informants was already serving time in jail for his sexual activities
when interviewed
o His own retrospective data tended to show that many individuals who
experienced intergenerational sex as children were not seriously
harmed by it
• His statistical sampling→ Kinsey's sample is not random and that it overrepresents
some segments of the population, including students and residents of Indiana.
• The asexuality of women
In sum, Kinsey was the major factor in changing attitudes about sex in the twentieth
century. His limitations and his personal foibles are appropriately overshadowed by his
courage to go where others had not gone before. He changed the nature of sexual
studies, forced a re-examination of public attitudes toward sex, challenged the
medical and psychiatric establishment to reassess its own views, influenced both the
feminist movement and the gay and lesbian movement, and built a library and an
institution devoted to sex research.
Laan, E., Klein, V., Werner, M., Van Lunsen, R. H. W., & Janssen, E. (2021). In pursuit of
pleasure: A biopsychosocial perspective on sexual pleasure and gender. International
Journal of Sexual Health, 33(4), 516–536.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2021.1965689
Abstract
• Objective: Various sources of evidence suggest that men and women differ in their
experience of sexual pleasure. Such gender differences have been attributed to men’s
higher innate sex drive, supported by evolutionary psychology perspectives and gender
differences in reproductive strategies.
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