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Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
When published in 1948 this volume encountered a storm of condemnation and acclaim. It is, however, a milestone on the path toward a scientific approach to the understanding of human sexual behavior. Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey and his fellow researchers sought to accumulate an objective body of facts regarding sex. They employed first hand interviews to gather this data. This volume is based upon histories of approximately 5,300 males which were collected during a fifteen year period. This text describes the methodology, sampling, coding, interviewing, statistical analyses, and then examines factors and sources of sexual outlet.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
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About the author
Alfred C. Kinsey
43 books89 followersNoted American biologist Alfred Charles Kinsey published his studies as
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
(1948) and
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
(1953).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_...
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 7, 2022
While the book is fascinating (morbidly), the science is super flawed (SUPER DUPER INCREDIBLY) and it’s very odd that this is such celebrated information, even to this day among academics. His sampling was skewed interviewing an unequal number of men and women, and I haven't been able to find out too many other specifics about this pool, religion, age, sexual orientation etc.. which are often particularly with sex influencing factors (I am going to assume, that the data is not discussed because the data was not gathered) the one thing that was clear is that all participants where Caucasian.
It was also self-reported data, almost exclusively, which can be revealing but is also super prone to bias, because not just in the selection of the participant like I said before. But people will lie to be more socially acceptable, and/or easily influenced by the interviewer, also this data in transcription can be intentionally or unintentionally "rewritten" so a very detailed multilayer check that everything went from point A to point B correctly is important (haven't found comment one way or the other on that). PLUS (as if we need more evidence) there can be "leaving out" information that does support your thesis/hypothesis which is totally unethical but also does happen!
UPDATE : After some poking around, this "science" as it relates to academia and its reputation. Kinsey seems to have suffered (or rather profited) from Daisy Chaining, where it was (semi-demi) credible at the time and was thus cited, and then people have cited the cited work, which is then cited, again and again and again. All the while people haven't really returned to the source info, hence the diluted generalities that Kinsey put forward are now acceptable (even though the foundation of that acceptability is built on nonsense). I am pretty sure I have heard this called something like "sand-castle-ing".
Additional and most disturbingly there is a good chunk of evidence to suggest that Kinsey seems to have been a pedophile,
Specifically in this work I can reference specifically table 34 where he talks about orgasm in babies and children which is prefaced and followed by the sexuality of children… there have been pretty substantial ethical grounds to say he abused at least 300 minors in his official work, which is on record. Kinsey also harped, excessively on how sex is not moral or immoral, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it was a lack of shame towards things like pedophilia (prepubescents), hebephilia (teenage), rape, other philias (which are no inherently harmful but do tend to have harmful fallout/casualties) that are concerning. There is a weird strawman that crops up here where Pro-Kinseyians will shout about homophobia and shaming a gay man. Its not the homosexuality that is the issue, its that he had a sexual preference for little boys. If he liked men, not an issue, predatory behavior towards children = huge huge huge HUGE problem.
So I will admit there are take always from, this text and not just this text but Kinsey’s other books but it HAS to be acknowledged that be worked primarily with deviants (pedophiles and prisoners) to get a lot of his information, the non-pervert info was not good quality at all and that the man was a pervert.
It was also self-reported data, almost exclusively, which can be revealing but is also super prone to bias, because not just in the selection of the participant like I said before. But people will lie to be more socially acceptable, and/or easily influenced by the interviewer, also this data in transcription can be intentionally or unintentionally "rewritten" so a very detailed multilayer check that everything went from point A to point B correctly is important (haven't found comment one way or the other on that). PLUS (as if we need more evidence) there can be "leaving out" information that does support your thesis/hypothesis which is totally unethical but also does happen!
UPDATE : After some poking around, this "science" as it relates to academia and its reputation. Kinsey seems to have suffered (or rather profited) from Daisy Chaining, where it was (semi-demi) credible at the time and was thus cited, and then people have cited the cited work, which is then cited, again and again and again. All the while people haven't really returned to the source info, hence the diluted generalities that Kinsey put forward are now acceptable (even though the foundation of that acceptability is built on nonsense). I am pretty sure I have heard this called something like "sand-castle-ing".
Additional and most disturbingly there is a good chunk of evidence to suggest that Kinsey seems to have been a pedophile,
Specifically in this work I can reference specifically table 34 where he talks about orgasm in babies and children which is prefaced and followed by the sexuality of children… there have been pretty substantial ethical grounds to say he abused at least 300 minors in his official work, which is on record. Kinsey also harped, excessively on how sex is not moral or immoral, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it was a lack of shame towards things like pedophilia (prepubescents), hebephilia (teenage), rape, other philias (which are no inherently harmful but do tend to have harmful fallout/casualties) that are concerning. There is a weird strawman that crops up here where Pro-Kinseyians will shout about homophobia and shaming a gay man. Its not the homosexuality that is the issue, its that he had a sexual preference for little boys. If he liked men, not an issue, predatory behavior towards children = huge huge huge HUGE problem.
So I will admit there are take always from, this text and not just this text but Kinsey’s other books but it HAS to be acknowledged that be worked primarily with deviants (pedophiles and prisoners) to get a lot of his information, the non-pervert info was not good quality at all and that the man was a pervert.
January 5, 2024
Upon the arrival of this book, Kinsey was concurrently addressed as a deliverer, condemned as a pornographer, compared to the scientific idealists Darwin and Copernicus, and affirmed a Communist bent on abolishing the American family, all themes that would persevere in deliberations of his work. Public pandemonium over the volumes spread well beyond the world of science, as hordes of readers acquired and debated them, rendering the reports’ terminology and extraordinary conclusions a part of commonplace knowledge. Kinsey’s statistics on pre- and extramarital sex impelled a national forum on the state of the America’s morals and marriages, and his verdicts on the extent of same-sex sexual activities fronted a large argument about homosexuality in America. Pervasive in postwar mass culture, the volumes featured everywhere in considerations of essentially every topic presumable, as allusions to the reports thrived in postwar political reporting, social science and even fiction.
June 25, 2013
I didn't read the entire book from cover to cover (as there is a lot of statistical information) but this book contains a wealth of information, and as well speaks to how much information is presently missing from general society. As a gay man, this book would have been very useful earlier in life...realizing I'm more "normal" than I ever would have imagined and those who fight to keep the truths hidden are doing so under a guise of authority and morality (both of which are complete lies). It makes me angry how much disinformation is out there and perhaps if people could openly talk about truths of life we wouldn't have so many problems with society...so a huge thank you to Kinsey for standing up at a time when most people were afraid to hear the truth.
March 17, 2015
The famed Kinsey Report!
When read, this scientific study must be taken into context and taken with the Zeitgeist of its times in mind, that being the 1940s. This study is most renowned for its shedding of light on homosexuality in the human male, of which it claims ~37% of human men have had one or more homosexual encounters in their entire lifetime.
What also must be taken into account is the sample size, the subjects he used, and that these subjects may have been withholding information due to the stigma of homosexuality at the time.
Still controversial to this day and groundbreaking, the reader has to take the information in this scientific experiment with a grain of salt and to have an analytical mind about the information in The Kinsey Report. Kinsey, Pomeroy, et al., may have been bending the interpretation of their results a bit. If anything, this study, without doubt, is riveting, entertaining reading, the kind of book where the reader literally is hypnotized and must keep reading, where secrets of the human male and the human male's sexuality are brought to the fore. It reinforces that American society is still rather Victorian in its mores and views of sexuality.
When read, this scientific study must be taken into context and taken with the Zeitgeist of its times in mind, that being the 1940s. This study is most renowned for its shedding of light on homosexuality in the human male, of which it claims ~37% of human men have had one or more homosexual encounters in their entire lifetime.
What also must be taken into account is the sample size, the subjects he used, and that these subjects may have been withholding information due to the stigma of homosexuality at the time.
Still controversial to this day and groundbreaking, the reader has to take the information in this scientific experiment with a grain of salt and to have an analytical mind about the information in The Kinsey Report. Kinsey, Pomeroy, et al., may have been bending the interpretation of their results a bit. If anything, this study, without doubt, is riveting, entertaining reading, the kind of book where the reader literally is hypnotized and must keep reading, where secrets of the human male and the human male's sexuality are brought to the fore. It reinforces that American society is still rather Victorian in its mores and views of sexuality.
July 18, 2009
The knowledge that this book existed interested me in watching "Kinsey" with Liam Neeson and watching the movie interested me in finding a copy of the book. Luckily I got an original 1948 copy for posterity but there's some pretty fascinating stuff in here. Don't know that I'll ever actually "read" it cover to cover but I like skimming through.
Funny all the reviewers are women - I think we all could learn a thing or two here.
Funny all the reviewers are women - I think we all could learn a thing or two here.
April 11, 2021
книга за male and female human animals (точно това е виждането на автора за човека във всичките му съчинения), които инцидентно се съвокупяват с animals of other species. ами няма разлика – просто различни животински видове. не е скандално. просто не е четиво за човеци.
November 4, 2013
While it can be argued whether or not this book is relevant in today's modern world, I do find it's an horrible underrated study on human sexual behavior. I used this book, as well as it's counter part, for my pedagogi exams in order to give my main sources a stronger foundation to stand on. I find it frightening how in schools, no one mentions a bit of thanks to Kinsey's studies, that they are the based of our modern sex ed in public schools. Before this, all we had to trust about 'normal sex' were age-useless information that messed with our heads with dashes of shames.
It was thanks to this book I understood that erections are perfectly normal in boys of ALL ages, a fact I probably only would have learned if I got son, as well as understanding what an average size of a males genitalia really is, before pornography or smut filled novels and short stories could mess with my perception of it.
All in all, if you're curious about the physiological development of men, this is a good read with actual stories of thousands of people telling about their own sexual developements as well as horrors and misgivings due to poor or lack of sexual education.
It was thanks to this book I understood that erections are perfectly normal in boys of ALL ages, a fact I probably only would have learned if I got son, as well as understanding what an average size of a males genitalia really is, before pornography or smut filled novels and short stories could mess with my perception of it.
All in all, if you're curious about the physiological development of men, this is a good read with actual stories of thousands of people telling about their own sexual developements as well as horrors and misgivings due to poor or lack of sexual education.
November 10, 2019
An excellent scientific book about the sexual behaviour in boys and men. Although a bit controversial, I still found this a very interesting read!
May 1, 2025
This is not a trashy romance novel. It's a scientific study - BORING. The book is 800 pages but most of it is data charts. I just read the 200 pp that summarize the data. I wanted to confirm that these artificial norms and morals that we humans enact on our own species are stupid, unnatural, and in conflict with what was obviously inteneded in our design, i.e., to procreate soon after puberty - just like every other species on the planet does. Telling our children they must wait until age 18 or 21 or later is just ridiculous. No wonder all the societies that preach this foolishness are suffering from sever population decline.
research
July 30, 2021⤑ research tag: in an effort to organise my shelves, I'm going to be labelling the books I'm using for study purposes as I tend to dip in and out of these.
January 15, 2022
Too much statistics but still it cleared my view upon the issues of gender and general sexual stimulus
February 10, 2025
I enjoyed reading this book. It was very informative and I learned a lot of new things that I hadn't known before.
to-keep-reference
March 18, 2016El Informe Kinsey fue el resultado de un estudio científico publicado en dos libros, Comportamiento sexual del hombre (1948) y Comportamiento sexual de la mujer (1953).
wishlist-a-k-a-buku-buruan
August 11, 2009Liat filmnya. Melihat caranya memandang hubunga sexualitas dalam kacamata behavioralisme. Menghebohkan metode penelitian dan hasil yang diajukan ke publik.
November 14, 2008
See my review for Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.
May 12, 2012
I possibly own the oldest edition of this book.
April 17, 2015
divine
August 18, 2011
Landmark work in human sexuality.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews