10 Questions

10 Questions for the Kinsey Institute:

1)      The founder of the Kinsey Institute, Alfred Kinsey, co-authored, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female and Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Both publications are currently in print and widely available.

Regarding pedophilia, in the Female volume, Kinsey writes:

“It is difficult to understand why a child, except for its cultural conditioning, should be disturbed at having its genitalia touched, or disturbed at seeing the genitalia of other persons, or disturbed at even more specific sexual contacts… Adult contacts…are not likely to do the child any appreciable harm if the child’s parents do not become disturbed.”

Please explain:

  • If the current position of the Kinsey Institute is that adult-child sexual contact is an acceptable and harmless behavior under any circumstance.
  • The Institute’s position on pedophilia or “adult/child sexual contact” of any kind.
  • If the institute has repudiated the position represented in the above quote, please also provide the earliest repudiation statement in context and the date it was made. Also, please provide a list of any other statements or conclusions presented in this volume that have been repudiated, withdrawn or otherwise modified by the Institute.

2)   In the book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Kinsey, states that bestiality, (human sex with animals) is a “normal” part of life, and that therapists should “reassure” people who practice bestiality that it is a normal sexual behavior (p. 677). Currently, bestiality is illegal in the majority of UN Member States. Please explain to the Committee in detail what the Kinsey Institute's position is on bestiality today.

3)   Please explain how the data on child orgasms (including from infants and toddlers) in Table 34 (below) of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male were obtained? Specifically, please make available the following: 

table34

  • Information on how the Institute came in contact with the pedophiles who conducted the sexual experimentation on children.
  • All files relating to the communications the Kinsey Institute or their past or present staff members had with the pedophiles who allegedly brought these children to orgasm.
  • Information on any follow up efforts to see the impact on the sexual development and well-being of children who were subject of the sexual experiments by pedophiles that were document in Table 34..
  • Information on any attempts by the Kinsey Institute to report illegal sexual activities with children to authorities.
  • Information on any current or past Kinsey Institute researchers, employees, staff, or affiliates that have been arrested for child molestation or other serious crimes.

4)   Please explain why the Kinsey Institute has cosponsored at least one event with and raised funds for the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture, which advocates for many things that are illegal in numerous UN Member States, including sex with multiple partners, bondage sex, anal sex, homosexuality, and the public display of pornography.

5)   Regarding the Kinsey Institute’s new cellular phone app, “The Kinsey Reporter,” (www.kinseyreporter.org), and which the Institute is encouraging people around the world to download to their phones, please explain:

  • Why, on the website, the Institute tells people, “by using the Kinsey Reporter, you are contributing to the research on human sexual behavior,” but then also states on the page that describes the app that the data have no scientific value. Please explain this discrepancy.
  • Your representative stated in her testimony to the Committee that the Kinsey Institute is a research organization. Since the Institute admits that the data collected through the app have no research or scientific value, what is the Institute’s purpose for asking people to report on the type of pornography they are watching and the sex acts they are engaged in or witnessing? Please explain in detail why such information is being collected by the Institute on an international basis and the purpose for the interactive world map where the sex data are posted.
  • Is it the intention of the Institute to allow the sex data collected through this app or by any other means to be used by advocacy organizations to modify or repeal laws relating to sexual behavior in any UN Member States?

6)   Conclusive scientific evidence accumulating over the past decade shows that pornography can alter normal brain structure and function and can become addictive for many people.  Research also shows that the harmful effects are particularly severe in young people.  Since the Kinsey Institute collects and preserves an extensive collection of erotic and pornographic movies, books, and magazines, including depictions of homosexual and heterosexual sex acts, and periodically makes this kind of material available to the public, please explain in detail:

  • How the Institute, an organization that states it is dedicated to the promotion of “sexual health,” reconciles its position on pornography, which is not only unhealthy, but is illegal in many UN Member States.
  •  Whether any of the erotic or pornographic materials in the Kinsey collection depict the nudity of children or could be considered in any way to be child pornography. (Please provide a list of all of the titles in the Kinsey collection.)
  • The Institute’s purpose for collecting this material and making it available to the public. 
  • Whether the Institute would ever exhibit its collection at the United Nations or in any UN Member State, and if so, under what circumstances.

7)   It is widely reported that the founder of the Kinsey Institute, Alfred Kinsey, engaged adultery, masochistic masturbation and in heterosexual and homosexual sex (with his students, staff and their spouses), and made pornographic films, including filming the sex acts of his co-workers and students as part of his scientific research, even though many of these activities were illegal at the time, and are illegal in many UN Member States today. Please explain in detail:

  • Which, if any, of these research techniques are still used by the Institute currently or are condoned by the Institute as acceptable research techniques. 
  • If the Institute intends to gather data on any of these behaviors in any UN Member State in which these behaviors are illegal.
  • The Institute’s policy on respecting the national, state and local laws in any country in which it may become active.  

8)   In 1949, in Kinsey’s testimony before the California Subcommittee on Sex Crimes, he stated that the research conducted by the Institute confirms that sex offenders do not re-offend. He then called for full parole for all sex criminals without exception. These positions are directly contrary to extensive research showing the high incidence of repeat sex crimes by sex offenders. This problem is so severe that a number of countries have instituted mandatory sex offender registries to warn communities and law enforcement regarding the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. Please explain what the position is of the Kinsey Institute on these issues today? If it has repudiated this position statement by Dr. Kinsey, please provide evidence of such.  

9)   There are reports that Kinsey Institute research has been subsidized by sex industry businesses that may benefit financially from its findings and, therefore, the findings might be biased or compromised. Please provide the following:

  • A list of any sex industry businesses or leaders (i.e., any individuals, companies, organizations, or businesses that profit from the sale of pornography or explicit images via the Internet, magazines, videos or any other medium) that have made financial contributions of $1,000 or more to the Kinsey Institute since its founding. 
  •  Any current or past connections, if any, that the current or past Kinsey Institute staff, researchers or associates may have had to sex industry businesses, as per above.. 

10)   In “The Kinsey Reports” volumes, the Kinsey Institute continues to publish controversial sex research that it has admitted was based on flawed methodology and not based on random or representative samples. Numerous critics over the years have pointed out that, in a similar position, any responsible research institute would have withdrawn and/or repudiated its questionable findings and ceased to perpetuate them. The fact that the Kinsey Institute has not done so, critics say, is proof that it is not a research organization as it claimed in its testimony before the Committee, but rather a group that is fabricating science to be used to advocate for legal and social change on controversial laws and policies related to sex and sexuality. Please explain in detail:

  • How the Kinsey Institute responds to such criticism.
  • All efforts the Kinsey Institute has made to correct, withdraw or repudiate Kinsey published sex research findings known to not be based on sound scientific methodology, or which failed to use random and representative samples.