Using Brickman’s chapter on Kinsey and researching additional material on Kinsey, create a
convincing argument challenging the use of Kinsey’s material for educating children and teens
about sex (do not use the Scriptures as a resource). Afterward, incorporate a biblical worldview
in your response.
There is no question of the influence that Alfred Kinsey had on the Sexual Revolution. His
studies on male and female sexual behavior were seen as landmarks in the realm of human
sexulaity. Yet, even with his work being highly influential, there are many people that have
criticized the work of Kinsey. Many have praised Kinsey and considered him to be equals with
other philosophers, while many critique the adequacy of his sampling techniques and the
methods and conclusions that these were drawn from (Brown & Fee, 2003).
After the death of Alfred Kinsey, many of the staff that worked closely with Kinsey took over the
Kinsey Institute and continued to teach his questionable methods. In 1964 the Institute started the
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US which later set guidelines for sexuality
education based on Kinseyan Sexulality (Brinkman, 2004). This raises the question of whether or
not Kinsey’s material should be allowed to use for sex educaiton for children and teens, and for
many the answer is no, it should not be used. Two immediate red flags that were seen with the
SIECUS was that it was not only one of its earliest leaders, the previous previous medical
director of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Mary Calderone, but also that it was initially funded by the
Playboy Foundation (Brinkman, 2004). These are two of the most questionable, controversial,
and criticized groups, and yet they had a primary hand in this council.
One of the biggest problems revealed in Kinsey's research was that he used very biased data that
was only pulled from specific groups. When his research was looked at more closely, it was
found that out of 5000 samples for one of his projects on male sexuality, a disporportionate size
of samples came from men in prison, who many were labled as sex offenders (Branch, 2014). It
was also found that his samples were pulled largely from homosexual-friendly organizations and
failed to use any sample data from African American men (Branch, 2014). Not only were
Kinsey’s methods questionable, but so was his data that was gathered. Our world is growing
more and more diverse everyday, so to use the research and teaching of someone whose methods
were often considered wrong, and whose data shows partiality to help filter results, to teach sex
education to children and young adults today would be unjust and wrong.
As christians, it is important to teach our children and youth of what the bible says about
sexuality and show them that it is intended for good in the right context. Jeremiah 29 speaks on
how God's plans are designed to benefit us (King James Bible, 2017, Jeremiah 29:11-13). God
doesn't tell us to live and act in a certain way in order to make us miserable and deprive us of
pleasure, but because his intended purpose for things is the best path we can take and he wants us
to experience joy and pleasure in that. This includes sexuality when it is done in a biblical
context.
Brown, T. M., & Fee, E. (2003). Alfred C. Kinsey: a pioneer of sex research. American journal
of public health, 93(6), 896–897. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.6.896
Brinkman, S. (2004). The Kinsey corruption. West Chester, PA: Ascension Press.
Branch, A. (2014, May 21). Alfred Kinsey: A Brief Summary and Critique. Retrieved January 29,
2021, from https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/alfred-kinsey-a-brief-summary-and-
critique/
King James Bible. (2017) King James Bible Online.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)
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