Medicine: 5,940 Women

• Share

(2 of 9)

More serious critics took issue with the Kinsey method itself, and many of the faults found with the male report also apply to the female. Kinsey's findings are based on small samples which do not represent a fair cross section of the U.S. They are made up of 5.300 white males and of 5,940 white females. Since all of them volunteered their information, and Kinsey takes his volunteers where he can find them, the subjects are not evenly distributed geographically—most come from the northeastern states, Illinois, Florida and California. They are more highly educated than the U.S. as a whole—63% of Kinsey's male subjects went to college (national average: 15%) and 75% of the women (national average: 13%). The 37% of U.S. women who do not go be yond grade school are represented by only 3% in Kinsey's sample.* Some religious groups, notably devout Roman Catholics and orthodox Jews, are underrepresented.

Furthermore, critics point out, the statistical yardstick may be technically accurate but misleading: if 50% of U.S. husbands commit adultery at some time in their lives, this does not mean that 50% of them are habitual adulterers — many may slip only once, or only during a long absence from home (e.g., on military service overseas).

Kinsey has admitted many of the limitations of his sampling, has labeled his reports preliminary: he hopes to improve on them later. In this volume he no longer tries to apply his findings to the whole U.S. And in the fine print of his statistical tables he separates the one-time errant from the long-term philanderer. But the first-glance effect of many Kinsey figures remains misleading.

The Key Findings. From what he has learned, within these limitations, Kinsey is convinced that a sexual revolution has taken place in the U.S. in the last 30 years, with women's behavior changed even more sharply than men's. His key findings about U.S. women:

¶They are by no means as frigid as they have been made out, and their sex lives often become more satisfactory with age.

¶ Almost exactly 50% have sexual intercourse before marriage (compared to 83% of U.S. men, as reported in Kinsey's first volume).

¶ About 26% have extramarital relations (compared to 50% of the males).

¶ Ancient and modern myths which have pictured women as practicing fantastic secret perversions have little basis in fact. These aberrations are far commoner among the men, and the myths represent "the male's wishful thinking, a projection of his own desire . . ."

The Big Change. The Gibson Girl of half a century ago, whaleboned into an hourglass shape, almost never heard the word "sex." It was a relatively new scientific term, to be distinguished from "love," which was too idealized, and "lust," which was too blunt.