Author: Raquel M. Chanano
Many people will be surprised to discover that what has served and is serving as the basis for public school sex education (and is even being used in many Catholic schools) has its roots in scientific fraud. Most of this could be credited to one individual: Alfred C. Kinsey, with the help of his colleagues Wardell B. Pomeroy, Clyde E. Martin, and Paul Gebhard. Their research and studies have undoubtedly shaped current attitudes and perceptions concerning human sexuality. These perceptions have ultimately worked themselves into the current sex education programs.
Alfred C. Kinsey was a professor of zoology at Indiana University (I.U.). Later he served as coordinator of new marriage courses that were established at I.U. During his involvement in these courses, he began to question students about their sex lives and offer advice in matters of sex and relationships. He simultaneously began compiling detailed documentation of several of these "sex histories" for his own personal interest.
Alfred Kinsey considered animal sexual behavior as the model for human sexual behavior, the only difference being that animals act without inhibition and by instinct alone. However, various cultural conditions are imposed on human beings, according to Kinsey, that unjustly inhibit and even criminally prohibit "natural human sexual behavior." "Being involved in all types of sexual activity would represent freedom from the cultural conditioning which society imposes and which leads to artificial distinctions such as right and wrong, licit and illicit, normal and abnormal, acceptable and unacceptable in our social organization," Kinsey's Male Report (1948) states.
The most famous and widely used Kinseyan concept is the notion of the sexual outlets. This notion subscribes to the principle that there are six possible forms of sexual release, which are the following from the male perspective: masturbation, nocturnal emissions, heterosexual petting, heterosexual intercourse, homosexual relations, and intercourse with animals of other species.
Since all of these constitute sexual release, they are all equally acceptable and normal, according to Kinsey. In reference to sexual release, there is the concept that bisexuality is the most balanced of all sexual orientations, because it includes both heterosexual and homosexual activity. In Kinsey's own words, "biologically there is no form of outlet which I will admit as abnormal." The problem, according to him, is that society was conditioned through traditional modes of thought to believe that heterosexual activity within marriage, especially, is both correct and the healthiest means of sexual expression. Kinsey strictly believed that all forms are healthy and that if any one form is abnormal and lesser, it is heterosexual intercourse.
One of the most worrisome of his concepts is that which justifies pedophiliac activity. Kinsey believed that children were predisposed to sexual activity from the moment of birth and that adult-child sex was included under the notion of a sexual outlet. Our social conditioning made it taboo, although it is actually a "normal" sexual behavior that should be practiced as well as pursued, Kinsey believed. He maintained that when done under circumstances where the adult genuinely cares for the child, as would a loving parent or relative, sex between an adult and a child could prove to be a healthy experience for the child. The results are unfavorable, Kinsey said, only when the child is conditioned by police authorities and parents to believe that such conduct is immoral and incorrect.
How does a scientist go about collecting evidence for such theories? One would like to believe that both ethical and scientifically sound research methods would be employed. Kinsey claimed that he wanted to conduct research that would be representative of American society. However, Kinsey's work and research was manipulated so that its results would be indicative of what he himself believed, without any real and tangible scientific support. According to Paul Robinson, one of Kinsey's biographers, Kinsey's work was designed to "undermine the traditional sexual order." Kinsey had his own amoral agenda and hoped to use his research as the scientific base to "change society's traditional moral values."
Kinsey's research included two main parts: he used data from the "sex histories" of about 18,000 persons, and he directed experimental sex research on several hundred children aged two months to almost 15 years of age. The information from the "sex histories" was not only manipulated, but most of his interviewees were not representative of society, because they were deliberately chosen (others volunteered) for their sexual deviancy. Though Kinsey wanted to document and expose what society was doing sexually, he only concentrated on one section of society -the deviant. A great number of the 5,300 male interviewees were sex offenders, pedophiles and exhibitionists, while about 25 percent of them were prison inmates. Many of those who volunteered were also biased in favor of the "sexually unconventional."
Kinsey himself and his team also observed and took notes on several filmed "experiments" that dealt with various kinds of deviant behavior, especially sex acts between homosexual males.
The experimental research on several hundred children consisted of the molestation of these children by a group of nine persons. Some were "technically trained" and in reality acted like pedophiles. It is reported that some were indeed already pedophiles because not all had to be trained. In Kinsey's (1948) it is reported that the children reacted to the oral and manual stimulation by these nine adults in various ways. The reactions ranged from bodily "twitching", "violent cries", "violent convulsions", and "extreme trembling", to "excruciating pain".
This was all done in order to supposedly demonstrate that children are sexual beings and can enjoy sexual pleasure as well as any adult. Kinsey sought to use these results to indicate that children are indeed able to engage in and benefit from sexual activity. There was no documentation as to who were those children or where they came from. How's that for scientific soundness? However, the relevant issue here is that Kinseyan concepts and perceptions on human sexuality, though deceitful and unscientific, have surfaced in sex education courses.
It is clear that sex education has been oriented towards the direction Kinsey had envisioned for society. Due to the second part of his research, his unfounded assertions have made their way into sex education for children. Most of the professional sex educators are being taught the Kinseyan model of human sexuality. A number of materials on sex education have captured Kinseyan modes of thought to their curricula. Even the biggest and most influential organizations include and promulgate Kinseyan concepts within their educational efforts.
Evidence of the correlation between Kinsey's theories and prominent educational agencies is abundant. One of the largest of these is the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Its publication, ), for the Western Hemisphere Region, states that sex education methods should facilitate the understanding that there is no one model of sexual behavior, but on the contrary, that there are diverse types of sexual behavior which are all acceptable and respectable. The root of their sex education objectives are clearly embedded in Kinsey's views. What is more obvious is the fact that various remarks from both Kinsey and Pomeroy (his colleague) are stated in order to justify teaching the validity of diverse types of sexuality, the most prominent of which is homosexuality. The Teaching of Human Sexuality in Schools (la Ensenanza de la Sexualidad Humana en las Escuelas) by IPPF, also states that young people should not be exposed to negative prevailing attitudes towards homosexuality so that they can develop "freely" and "normally."
Other organizations that follow Kinsey's lead are the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), its regional center of higher education for Latin America and the Caribbean CRESALC), Planned Parenthood of America, and the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). UNESCO's publication, ) for first grade education, includes several cartoon-type figures claiming that children have the right to know their bodies. They proclaim the uselessness of guilt, prejudice, and social taboos. From seventh through ninth grade, students are taught that sexual relations can be constructive and pleasant experiences for both persons involved if both are open to having them freely, conscientiously, and if they are informed and responsible.
The Regional Center of Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRESALC), under the UNESCO-FNUAP umbrella, also dedicates much of its effort to similar educational instructions. In Diez Hechos Ciertos y De Peso Acerca del Sexo (a Spanish translation of Ten Heavy Facts About Sex), a publication partly funded by CRESALC, students are informed that the enrichment of a relation is sex between two people, no matter who the two people are. In other words, students are taught to believe that any type of sexual activity is both correct and naturally enriching. Ultimately, children learn that heterosexuality is but one of the many options available to them. In this manner they start to establish the premise that heterosexuality can be easily abandoned. It is the creation of a "heterophobic" society, which Kinsey obviously aimed for through his research. This term, as of yet, has not worked its way into American mainstream society as the term "homophobic" has. (Homophobia is used to describe the unfounded fear and discomfort which some people or a particular culture supposedly have toward homosexuals.) Once all of Kinsey's ideas are in place, society will come to fear and be wary of heterosexuals, while the sexual deviations will be seen as the norm.
Two of the main promoters in the U.S., where Kinsey's ideas are concerned, are the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and SIECUS (Sex Information and Education Council of the United States). Planned Parenthood, by far the more prominent, founded by Margaret Sanger, is a model of Kinseyan thought. Kinsey was simply following in the footsteps of Sanger, who once claimed that "the marriage bed is the most degrading influence of the sexual order . . . a decadent institution, a reactionary development of the sex instinct." SIECUS, under the leadership of Dr. Mary S. Calderone, formerly medical director for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has also been making continuous strides in relation to sex education for children, based on the Kinseyan philosophy. For example, the promotion of the "acceptance of the wide range of possible expressions of sexuality," was affirmed in a January 1980 SIECUS Report.
But where Kinseyan philosophy is most noticeable is in SIECUS's attempts at teaching childhood sexuality. By 1983 Mary Calderone was writing that the child's sexual capacities could "be developed in the same way as the child's inborn human capacity to talk or to walk . . " It is amazing how society is now working towards indoctrinating children in matters of sexuality at an early age: Planned Parenthood's Sex Education and Mental Health Report (1979), states that "no religious views, no moral standards, are to deflect the child from the overriding purposes of self-discovery, self-assertion, and selfgratification." Children, especially teenagers, are learning in sex education courses patterned after Kinsey, that all sex is good in an of itself and that it is fun. They are being taught to believe they have the right and that it is for their well-being that they enter into any type of sexual activity at an early age, even with adults. Many sex educators have joined the bandwagon, without any slight hint of hesitation. It is no wonder that young people are engaging in promiscuous sexual activity, now more than ever, with the resulting rise of venereal diseases, illegitimate pregnancies, abortion, AIDS, etc. It is obviously a cause-and-effect scenario, and our society is clearly reaping the fruits from this type of mentality.
What is extremely difficult to believe is that our society seems to be on the verge of accepting pedophilia as an orientation within the sex spectrum. This particular issue is where the ties to Kinsey's research can be fully attested. In an article, Joan A. Nelson, Ed.D., writes in favor of a model of adult-child sexuality in which sex acts with children are to be viewed as acceptable and even essential to the healthy development of the child. What Dr. Nelson views as the harmful agent is "society's condemnation," rather than the effects of such grotesque and immoral acts on young children. Also, Wardell Pomeroy (Kinsey's colleague) of Planned Parenthood, once stated that "incest between adults and younger children can also prove to be a satisfying experience. Incestuous relationships can- and do-work out well." This is exactly what Kinsey believed! A variety of materials from Alyson Publications, which consist mostly of pro-homosexual literature, includes a new series of books that attempt to justify pedophilia and render its perpetrators respectable. "They promote children as objects of sexual pleasure, give advice on how to have sex with children without getting caught, provide locations around the world were child prostitutes can be had, and list clubs pedophiles can join..." Now that academic sexology accepts children as sexual beings and many strides are being taken to legitimize child-adult sex, we can see the acceptance of pedophilia as an orientation on the horizon. It is only a matter of time before we will find other scientists, sex educators, and publishing companies, sympathizing with the pro-pedophilia effort. We owe this largely to the work and effort of Alfred C. Kinsey!
The traditional, Christian moral values that once prevailed are undoubtedly under attack. The endeavor appears to be one on which some of the most influential sectors of society have embarked. Kinsey himself was motivated to change society's perception of human sexuality by his disgust towards the Judeo-Christian tradition. "Kinsey knew a great deal about the Judeo- Christian tradition, and he was indignant about what it had done to our culture," says Pomeroy.
IPPF's manual Human Sexuality and Personal Relations states that a more positive view of human sexuality, free of preconceived moral and religious taboos, should be integrated. And "SIECUS' idea of current needs in sex education has led to the basic conflict . . . about the nature of human sexuality in a civilized society and whether traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs about sexuality are repressive and unhealthy."
Alfred C. Kinsey had opened an avenue of abuse and deceit within the study of human sexuality and sex education; we are witnesses to the continuous expansion of this avenue.
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/kinseys-fraud-and-its-consequences-for-society-11011
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