HOLLYWOOD AND SEX:  Simply Out of Touch
By Paul Randolph
Hollywood’s latest example of its fascination with sex came and quickly left movie screens in the film, Kinsey, released in 2004.  Apparently, even with AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy out of wedlock, and Janet Jackson’s superbowl fiasco, Hollywood believes that America needs more sex.  This latest journey into Hollywood’s philosophy of sex stars Liam Neeson in the title role of sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey. 
            Alfred Kinsey is known as the sex researcher of the twentieth century.  Kinsey’s work is considered by many in the intellectual world as ground breaking.  He attacked America’s view of sexuality on a number of fronts, advocating the ideas that sex outside of marriage should be encouraged, and that the most normal expression of sexuality is not heterosexuality or homosexuality, but bisexuality.  He sought to convince the scientific community that all sexual activities considered deviant were normal, and that heterosexuality was abnormal and society’s emphasis on it was a product of social conditioning and cultural inhibitions.  This Hollywood version of history portrays Kinsey as a courageous and dedicated researcher who sought to dispel America’s puritanical ideas about sexuality.  It completely ignores his flawed research methods and most outrageous conclusions. 
            It is no surprise that the media elite are celebrating this movie as courageous worthy of recognition.  Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, a Kinsey biographer, wrote recently in the New York Times that just as Kinsey’s work was attacked by the far right in the 1940’s and 1950’s, so today the far right is attacking this movie.  Of course, whoever wants to break taboo’s and throw off restraint is the hero.  And whoever dares to suggest that less is more and that there are solid moral and medical grounds to exercise self control in sexuality is backward, puritanical, and repressed.    
            So why should anybody be concerned about this latest version of Hollywood fiction that portrays itself as fact?  I would like to suggest four reasons for people who care about truth.  First, Kinsey based his research on flawed population samples and known sex offenders.  Second, Kinsey was a big believer that restraints and morality about human sexuality needed to be discarded and skewed his findings in that direction.  In other words, he sought to prove what he already believed instead of letting the research drive the conclusion wherever the evident led.  Third, Kinsey’s conclusions on child sexuality are very disturbing to anyone with a moral compass.  Quoting Reisman and Eichel from their landmark book,   Kinsey, Sex, and Fraud:  The Indoctrination of a People,  “Kinsey’s ‘scientific’ research purported to prove that children were sexual beings, even from infancy, and that they could, and should, [emphasis mine] have pleasurable and beneficial sexual interaction with adult ‘partners’ who could lead them into the proper techniques of fulfilling sexual activity.”  His conclusions are ridiculous to anyone who has read the research concerning the harm done to children by adult perpetrators of incest and statutory rape, or anyone like myself who has counseled them and seen the damage first hand. 
            The fourth area of concern relates to the most recent attacks on marriage.  We have all seen the recent wave of attempts by the homosexual community to legalize so-called gay marriage.  The rational is one of equal rights for gays who want to legalize their commitment.  Behind this is a belief that homosexuality is simply an equally viable alternative to heterosexuality.  Guess who is the most noted researcher and one of the first to suggest this idea?  That’s right, Alfred Kinsey. 
            To Kinsey, the more sex the better.  If you follow his arguments, you wind up thinking that there is something wrong with your marriage if you aren’t doing it daily.  If you aren’t getting enough, then there is something wrong with your spouse, so move on to someone who will satisfy your needs. 
            In contrast to this view, is a more traditional Judeo-Christian perspective on sexuality.  It is one that celebrates sex, and sees it not simply for procreation but also for enjoyment.  But it is also a view that places sexuality within the context of a committed, monogamous, life-long relationship.  This context actually provides the best opportunity for a couple to enjoy their sexuality, because it is experienced on the basis of commitment and trust, not performance.  No guilt, no morning after regrets, no sexually transmitted diseases, no being used for someone’s sexual gratification, no love ‘em and leave ‘em.  If you are looking for great sex, don’t look to Kinsey, look to that embattled but historic institution of marriage