Summary Report: The Kinsey Institute's History and Impact

This report summarizes the history and significance of the Kinsey Institute, originally founded by Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey at Indiana University. The institute, established in 1947, began with Kinsey's interest in human sexuality, leading to the collection of extensive data and the publication of influential books on male and female sexual behavior. The report highlights the institute's evolution, including its initial funding, research methods, and the controversies it faced, such as accusations of Communist activities and lawsuits. It also details the role of Indiana University's president in defending the institute's academic freedom. The Kinsey Institute continues to exist today as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

Demetrius L. Jenkins
A Summary of The Institute for Sex Research (ISR), popularly known as
“The Kinsey Institute”
By Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey
Established in Bloomington, Indiana on April 8, 1947 Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey
founded a non-profit organization called the Institute for Sex Research also
known as The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Dr. Kinsey arrived at Indiana
University in 1920 a year after receiving his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard
University.
It was in 1938 when he seems to be changing lanes towards the subject of sex.
Marriage and Family is one of the first courses he began teaching seniors and
married students at the university. This opens the door for what appears to be
the opportunity he’s been looking for, considering that for the majority of his
career his focus has been studying insects (Gall Wasps), specializing in taxonomy
and individual variations.
In December 1940, Kinsey submitted an application for a research grant to the
National Research Council’s Committee for Research in Problems of Sex; the
following year, C.R.P.S. awarded him $1,600. With his first grant under his belt,
and more to come, Kinsey set out to recruit research assistants, people he could
train to conduct interviews and trust not to betray confidences. As each of these
men joined his staff, Kinsey made him memorize the entire interview, in all of its
possible permutations, as well as the code for recording the results
By 1948, no longer satisfied with merely collecting other people’s histories, Kinsey
started encouraging his research staff to experiment sexually with each other.
During his tenure as president of Indiana University, Wells doggedly took on
Kinsey’s detractors in one of the most heralded instances of the protection of
academic freedom in the mid-20th century.
After the release of Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, Wells said: Indiana
University stands today, as it has for 15 years, firmly in support of the scientific
research project that has been undertaken and is being carried out by one of its
eminent biological scientists, Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey.

The institute survived the lawsuit, the publication of Kinsey’s two books about
male and female sexual behavior, accusations of Communist activities, and the
subsequent loss of its funding - and exists today as the Kinsey Institute for
Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
Source:
Kinsey Institute - https://kinseyinstitute.org/about/history/alfred-kinsey.php
PBS - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh//amex/kinsey/peopleevents/e_institute.html