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“Considering Kinsey,” by Ryan Anderson
November 4th, 2004
 This
article started out as a rant on religion in schools. However, due to
recent events, that’ll be for next week. Being a film buff, I’m always
psyched about the Oscars. This year the big contenders seem to be “Ray”,
a biographical film about Ray Charles, and “Kinsey” a biographical film
about Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey is famous for sparking “the sexual revolution”.
Some praise his efforts. But if his work was so beneficial to our society…why
do some call him a “pervert”. Many go as far to call him a “monster”.
I plan to give both sides of the argument.
Kinsey said he wanted to change the idea of sex because what he had
heard previously was only based on “judeo christian” philosophy. He
started to conduct a series of interviews and tests on Indiana University’s
campus. Eventually he wrote two books on the sexual behaviors of men
and women (he also wrote other works). The tests and interviews have
been under fire for a long time.
The above is the facts. Kinsey studied masochism and homosexuality as
well as other things. Under the most scrutiny are his investigations
into children’s sexual habits. The Kinsey Institute will tell you people
point out these studies because there are ethical issues. Well of course.
Think about it. Criticizers of the research say the ultimate agenda
is acceptance of pedophilia. I’m not sure about that, but he did condone
the use of sex education in schools, pornography, and group sex. Some
things we do know for sure about Kinsey are that he had multiple partners
(his wife knew about all of them). Many of them were his students and
many were male. His wife also had many parntners which Kinsey knew about.
I believe there is something to their claims but that’s just me. I don’t,
however, think Kinsey was secretly trying to make pedophilia something
normal…that’s a bit over the top. In the film, Kinsey is played by Liam
Neeson, who’s a great actor. He always picks eccentric roles. This one
may get him an Oscar. That’s not the point. Would you watch a film about
Roman Polanski raping some one and fleeing the country? I wouldn’t watch
it…but I’m sure that’d get some awards too. Polanski is a talented filmmaker.
So he deserves to be glorified…correct?
You can be the judge on that one. Voice your opinion with your wallets.
See the film or not. Maybe you just decide to see “The Incredibles”….maybe
you like “Kinsey” so much you see it 3 times. Whatever floats your boat.
I just want to say, there is another point of view to this story.
Maybe Kinsey wasn’t such a hero. I suspect many may have that opinion.
I do know one thing, Kinsey followers are a little oblivious if they
don’t like the judeo christian philosophy. That’s what this country
was built on…like it or not.
Maybe this was thought provoking.
Kinsey contributed a lot to history…so did Saddam Hussein. Not that
I’m comparing the two. Hussein, of course, is a horrible person. I’m
just saying we should think carefully about what we promote these days.
Of course there won’t really be another great picture until Indiana
Jones 4, you may just want to go to the theatre before then. Remember:
garbage in; garbage out.
The academy will love this picture because it pushes their agenda, but
that doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m not saying it’ll be bad, because I
haven’t seen it. But I will tell you I don’t plan on it. I’m not judging
the film here I’m telling you about the man who will be portrayed in
the film. It’s the kind of thing important to knowing what the film
is about. Knowing what the film is about is a key part in deciding whether
or not to see it.
So I hope you leave your computer a bit enlightened. I hope this affects
what films you see this week/weekend. Your decision making process may
be tweaked a bit. Possibly you weren’t going to see it anyway. Just
understand the film does have graphic scenes which one witness said
made him feel “nauseated” (another commented that they couldn’t believe
they were “making a movie on this nutcase”). Be prepared for scenes
that may disturb you. That, in my humble opinion, was what Kinsey was
largely about.
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