The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction (often shortened to The Kinsey Institute) is a research institute at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

. Established in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

, in 1947 as a nonprofit, the institute merged with Indiana University in 2016, "abolishing the 1947 independent incorporation absolutely and completely." The institute's mission is "To foster and promote a greater understanding of human sexuality and relationships through research, outreach, education, and historical preservation." Research, graduate training, information services, and the collection and preservation of library, art, and archival materials are main activities carried out by The Kinsey Institute. The institute and

Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...

himself have been the subject of much controversy. As of July 1, 2019, evolutionary biologist and sex researcher Justin Garcia holds the title of executive director of The Kinsey Institute, previously noted as the institute's research director. Garcia is the institute's eighth executive director and their youngest in history at 34 years old when appointed as executive director.

History

Formation

The origins of the Kinsey Institute lie in the scientific research of

professor and entomologist turned sexuality researcher,

. The 1947 creation of the nonprofit institute, originally named the Institute for Sex Research (ISR), was supported by both Indiana University president Herman B Wells and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

, a major financial backer of Kinsey's research. The ISR was established to protect and preserve the

confidentiality Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

of Kinsey's data and research materials by creating a secure, permanent repository for them. Alfred Kinsey was director of the institute from 1947 until his death in 1956. Since then, the institute has had six directors:

Paul Gebhard Paul Henry Gebhard. Jr. (July 3, 1917 – July 9, 2015) was an American anthropologist and sexologist. Born in Rocky Ford, Colorado, he earned a BS and a PhD from Harvard in 1940 and 1947, respectively. Between the years 1946 and 1956, Gebhard ...

PhD (1956–1982), June Reinisch PhD (1982–1993), Stephanie Sanders PhD (interim director, 1993–1995), John Bancroft MD (1994–2004), Julia Heiman PhD (2004–2014), C. Sue Carter PhD (2014–2019), and Justin Garcia PhD (2019-present).

Kinsey's directorship (1947–1956)

Shortly after the ISR's establishment, Kinsey's interview based research was published in the 1948 bestselling book, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male''. Its companion ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' was published five years later. These books were popularly known as the “

Kinsey Reports The Kinsey Reports are two scholarly books on human sexual behavior, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'' (1948) and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' (1953), written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and (for ''Sexual Beh ...

”. Also, in 1950, research materials being shipped to the ISR were seized by

U.S. Customs The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

thereby resulting in the federal court case ''U.S. v. 31 Photographs''. This case continued on after Kinsey's death, until it was finally settled in the institute's favor in 1957. The ruling granted ISR permission to import erotic materials for research purposes.

Gebhard's directorship (1956–1982)

Under Paul Gebhard's leadership, the interview based research project continued, resulting in the publication of '' Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion'' and '' Sex Offenders: An Analysis of Types''. Other significant publications included JoAnn Brook's'' Sexual Nomenclature: A Thesaurus'' and Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg's '' Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women''. Additionally, in response to criticism that Kinsey's original data was biased and not well defined, Gebhard and Johnson wrote ''The Kinsey Data: Marginal Tabulations of the 1938-1963 Interviews''. To honor its founder, the Institute for Sex Research was renamed The Kinsey Institute for Sex Research in 1981.

June Reinisch's directorship (1982–1993)

When June Machover Reinisch became the new director, the name of the institute changed to The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, in order to better reflect its expanded mission. During her first years as director, as part of her contract with the university, the institute was completely renovated and expanded adding a new full floor for the library including temperature and humidity controlled stacks, a scholars' reading room, additional staff offices, and The John Money Visiting Scholars Study, an art gallery and new archives for the art and artifacts collections and additional research offices and laboratory space. Reinisch's directorship also saw the creation of a five-volume monographic series, The Kinsey Institute Series, beginning with the publication of ''Masculinity/Femininity'' resulting from institute-sponsored multidisciplinary seminars. Research focused on at-risk sexual behavior and the effects of prenatal exposure to medications on sexual and psychosexual development. Additionally, in 1990 the establishment of the institute's art gallery led to exhibitions featuring its art collection. From 1984 to 1993, with direction from Indiana University to play an active role in public education, the institute produced “The Kinsey Report”, an internationally syndicated newspaper column. Although "The Kinsey Report" is no longer a syndicated column, the Kinsey Institute continues to maintain a sex and sexuality FAQ and statistics page on their website. Additionally, a trade book aimed at popular audiences, ''The Kinsey Institute New Report on Sex: What you must know to be Sexually Literate'', was released in 1991.

Stephanie Sanders's interim directorship (1993–1995)

Following June Reinisch's retirement, Stephanie Sanders held the institute's research and curriculum programs together as the Board reorganized its internal structure amid drastic budget cuts from Indiana University.

John Bancroft's directorship (1995–2004)

From 1995 to 2001, The Kinsey Institute operated a clinic for sexual health and menstrual problems under the directorship of John Bancroft. Research focus was placed upon the psychology of sexual behavior, hormonal effects on sex, and sexuality and well-being. Bancroft and Erick Janssen developed the Dual-control model of sexual arousal, a theory of sexual arousal involving inhibitory and excitation processes. In 1999, the website Kinsey Confidential (originally called Kinsey Institute Sexuality Information Service for Students) was started to provide research-based information regarding sexuality to college-aged adults. It includes sex questions and answers provided by sex researcher and columnist Debby Herbenick in both column-format and podcast-format. During the following year, the institute began regularly rotating exhibitions of artwork and archival materials in addition to offering public tours.

Julia Heiman's directorship (2004–2013)

In 2006, the institute began hosting an annual juried art show. In 2007, The Kinsey Institute also hosted the inaugural conference of The University Consortium for Sexuality Research and Training. Also, a question and answer column from the Kinsey Confidential runs in university newspapers including Indiana University's '' Indiana Daily Student''. Ongoing research themes include such topics as

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female con ...

usage, sex in long-term relationships, and hormones and reproduction.

Sue Carter's directorship (2014–2019)

Sue Carter, a pioneer in examining mechanisms underlying love, bonding and other emotions, was named director in October 2014. Carter said her directorship will emphasize love, sexuality and well-being. "I want to take Kinsey into directions that are unequivocally important" including sexual trauma, the

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

movement, and medical interventions that can affect a person's sexuality and relationships. Reflecting this broadened scope, the institute changed its tagline from "advancing sexual health and knowledge worldwide" to "explore love, sexuality, and well-being" and introduced a new red logo, a circle inscribed with a hexagonal arrangement of circular arcs. The prior logo, a stylised K designed by Enock, Inc., had been phased out around 2010–11. For most of her life, Carter has studied

prairie vole The prairie vole (''Microtus ochrogaster'') is a small vole found in central North America. The vole has long, coarse grayish-brown fur on the upper portion of the body and yellowish fur on the lower portion of the body. It has short ears and a ...

s. Unlike most other mammals, these voles pair-bond.

Justin Garcia's directorship (2019-present)

On July 1, 2019, evolutionary biologist and sex researcher Justin Garcia became the institute's youngest executive director at 34 years old, replacing director Sue Carter.

Library, archive, and art gallery

Library, archive, and art collection

The Kinsey Institute is considered to have one of the largest collections of library, archival, and art materials pertaining to sex, gender, and reproduction. The current collection began as Alfred Kinsey's private research collection. To ensure its protection, Kinsey sold it to the institute for one dollar. Over the years, neither state nor grant money have been used to build collections. Instead the institute uses funds obtained from book royalties and fees in addition to donations. A sampling of the broad range of items housed at the institute includes scientific and popular books, pulp magazines, publications from both sexual and anti-sexual organizations, data from Kinsey's original interview project, films, photos, erotic objects, and artwork by both professionals and amateurs. Items from all over the world are represented in the collection and some objects even date back to the

pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

. However, materials do not circulate and must be studied within the reading room which is open to scholars, professionals, university faculty, and students over eighteen who are researching topics pertaining to sexuality, gender, and reproduction. Due to the highly specialized nature of the collection, holdings are described using subject headings created by The Kinsey Institute and organized using a modified version of the

Dewey Decimal System The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Section 4.1 ...

Art gallery

The Kinsey Institute's art gallery is accessible to the public and hosts a variety of exhibitions each year. Some titles of past exhibitions have included Nature & Nurture: Exploring Human Reproduction from Pregnancy through Early Childhood, Private Eyes: Amateur Art from The Kinsey Institute Collections, Eros in Asia: Erotic Art from Iran to Japan, and Sex and Presidential Politics. Exhibits featuring the institute's collection have also traveled around both the state of Indiana and country. Each year since 2006, The Kinsey Institute's annual juried art show features art work that explores themes of sexuality, gender, romance, reproduction, gender and sexual politics, the human figure, and the relation between illness and sexuality. Due to the large size of the show, it is hosted at Indiana University's SoFa gallery.

References

External links

The Kinsey Institute Website

The Kinsey Institute Sexuality Information Service for Students

The Kinsey Institute Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsey Institute 1947 establishments in Indiana Bloomington, Indiana Education in Monroe County, Indiana Indiana University Research institutes established in 1947 Sexology organizations Sexual orientation and medicine

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...