Letter to the Editor (Dec. 28. 1995)
The Washington Post

By John Bancroft, Director, The Kinsey Institute

(Note: Written in response to Dec. 8th Post article about allegation by Rep. Stockman, Galveston, Texas, about one aspect of Dr. Alfred Kinsey's research 50 years ago.)

I read with interest the Post's Dec. 8th story on The Kinsey Institute, and some clarification is in order.

The article states that Alfred Kinsey's conclusions on the sexuality of young children were based not on scientific study, but on the secret history of a single pedophile. Kinsey, in fact, used several sources of information. The most substantial was adults recalling sexual responses in their own childhoods. He also used the reported observations of a few adults who had sexual experiences with children, and he made this source clear in the book. What was not clear in the book is that the information in Table 34 came from one of these men, not three or four, as the book implied.

The article goes on to state that "nowhere does the report reveal that the man was a pedophile." This is not the case, as stated above. I did not suggest that the single source for Table 34 was concealed because he was a sex criminal; that fact was already clear. I did suggest that Kinsey may have felt that indicating a single source might have brought undue attention to bear on that individual and pressure to reveal his identity. But that is only speculation on my part.

The article implies that more was wrong with Kinsey's reporting of evidence than was the case. In general, Kinsey was meticulous in his reporting. In various repects, some of his conclusions from these early and pioneering studies have had to be modified because of the limitations of his sampling methods. There is no argument on that point. But his integrity as a scientist and his compassion as a human being are beyond dispute.

In view of the direct links that are being made between these observations on children and modern sex education, it is important to point out that if these observations of pedophiles had been completely omitted by Kinsey, it would have made absolutely no difference to the development of sex education in this country. They are irrelevant.

[Controversy Over Alfred Kinsey's Research].