Kinsey (Male) Report
January 1948
In January 1948 Alfred Kinsey caused a sensation by publishing the findings of his study ‘Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male’ which stated that 4% of men identified as exclusively homosexual and 37% had enjoyed at least one homosexual experience in their lives.
(He followed this up in 1953 with ‘Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female’ with figures of 2% exclusively lesbian and 13% had had at least one lesbian experience in their lives).
He argued against concepts of 'normal' and 'abnormal' and argued for a concept of 'individual variation'. 'It is my conviction', he wrote, with commendable courage, 'that the homosexual is biologically as normal as the heterosexual'. His biographer found convincing evidence that he had considerable homoerotic experience himself and it was suggested that Kinsey needed to prove to himself that he was not 'deviant' but 'normal' - that is, like the two-in-five other American males with at least a gay streak."
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