Kinsey was a driven man, or rather a driven scientist. He was, literally, a natural scientist, and his personal behavior was that of a "natural." But the last thing that can be said about him is that he was "indecent." I can't think of a more decent man I have ever encountered. In his drivenness he was a puritan, not a libertine. He never took advantage of anyone for his personal gratification. Whatever practices he may have observed, tolerated, or registered were to obtain behavioral evidence of an activity that is fundamental to humanity but also--and for good reasons- considered by most people the most private of all matters, although our sales culture makes billions exploiting it to the rim publicly. That kind of hypocrisy, that kind of narcissistic gratification was utterly foreign to Kinsey. He may not have been a moralist, but he was moral.
Henry H. H. Remak
Professor Emeritus of Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature, and West
European Studies
Interim Director, Institute for Advanced
Study
Indiana University Bloomington
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