Alfred Charles Kinsey s The Reception Of The Kinsey

Alfred Charles Kinsey vs. Historian Dagmar Herzog Alfred Charles Kinsey altered the way in which people of the twentieth century understood homosexuality. Kinsey’s findings created a great deal of discussion and controversy that became an enduring part of American culture. Historian Dagmar Herzog’s work The Reception of the Kinsey Reports in Europe observed European and American reactions to both volumes of Kinsey’s work. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports and challenges Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings on European activists’ views over the Kinsey Scale. However, Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work also challenges Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings on Europeans’†¦show more content†¦The scale ranged from zero, for exclusively heterosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with their same sex, to six, for exclusively homosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with those of the opposite sex, and one through five for varying levels of desire or sexual activity with either sex (â€Å"The Kinsey Institute – Kinsey Sexuality Rating Scale,† n.d.). The Kinsey Scale made homosexual behavior, not only more common, but also less pathological. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings by comparing Europeans’ reactions to Kinsey’s research on homosexuality. With Americans’ reactions Kinsey’s research had a profound effect on the gay subculture in the United States (â€Å"The Kinsey Institute – Kinsey Sexuality Rating Scale,† n.d.). However, it also impacted homosexuals in other parts of the world. Historian Dagmar Herzog argues that activists for homosexual rights in France and West Germany were thrilled by Kinsey’s research that showed heterosexual and homosexual behaviors as being on a continuum rather than as a dichotomy between gay and straight (Herzog, 2006). This is ultimately due to the fact that in West Germany homosexuality was still illegal and in