The Study of Human Sexuality
Overview
The study of human sexual behavior is a relatively new science compared to other scientific disciplines. While disciplines such as cell biology were limited by the technology of the day, serious investigations into human sexual form and function were hindered by ethical constraints. The groundbreaking studies of Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), whose systematic research reported the sexual behaviors of Americans, laid the foundation for the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
Background
Historically, scientists have explored physical and biological phenomena through careful observation and methodical investigation. Sound science is rooted in a researcher's ability to remain objective about the subject of his or her investigation. Presumably, a researcher's objectivity is easily maintained when cultural mores, the fundamental moral views of a group, are not called into question. Objectivity is almost never a confounding factor in most physical and biological sciences.
However, prior to the 1930s, the assumption of objectivity failed for investigations involving human sexual behavior. Early sex scientists, or sexologists, were physicians and psychiatrists unschooled in the scientific method, the systematic approach to solving problems. The results were early sexuality studies fraught with inaccurate information and personal bias.
During the eighteenth century, the guardianship of sexual study began to shift.
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