Kinsey Reports

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Two books, published in the late 1940s and early 1950s by Alfred Kinsey and others are known as the Kinsey Reports. In the books Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male (published in 1948) and Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female (published in 1953), Kinsey looks at different sexual behaviours and sex practices.

The books stunned the public. They discussed subjects that were taboo beforehand. They also questioned the conventional beliefs about sexuality. They were controversial.

[edit] Findings of the reports

In simple words, Kinsey found the following:

There are different sexual orientations. About 46% of men has reacted to both sexes; this means they are not completely heterosexual. 37% had at least one homosexual experience. About 10% were more or less openly homosexual. With women these numbers are lower. About 7% of single women, and about 4% of the women had been married were about halfway on the scale (3 out of 6), more or less equally homosexual, and heterosexual. 2%-6% of married women, and 1-3% of unmarried women were more or less exclusively homosexual.
Masturbation is common:About 62% of women, and about 92% of men have used masturbation at least once.
How often they have sex: Women reported to have had sex 2.8 times a week (in the late teens), 2.2 times a week by age 30, and once a week by age 50.
Sadomasochism: 12% if women, and 22% of men said they were sexually aroused by a sadomasochistic story. 55% of women, and 50% of men have had an erotic reaction when they were bitten.

[edit] Criticism

Of course, the reports were criticized. People said, that the selection of those asked was not well done. One in four were prisoners, and 5% were male prostitutes. The institute, where Kinsey did these tests, then did another such tests, without asking prisoners or prositutes, and the findings were more or less the same. People also say, that child abuse may have been involved when collecting the data.