Book Review: Sexual Behavior in the Human Female

Abstract

In the United States almost everybody reads the Kinsev Reports--or reports about them. Thus, almost everybody knows that of the 5940 white females (let's call them women) whom Kinsey and his associates studied: 1) 62% had masturbated; 2) 53% had petted to orgasm before marriage: 3) 50% had had premarital relations and 69% of the 50% had no regrets; 4) 26% had had extra-marital intercourse before age of 40; and 5) 19% had had some experience with Lesbianism. Assuming these figures to be a reasonably accurate reflection of the sexual performance of the 5940 women involved, what does it mean? Does it mean that every other woman you see on a bus is a trollop and that every fourth married woman you meet is having an affair? Of course, it means nothing of the kind. These data on woman mean no more than any other statistical study. They describe the behavior of women en masse, but they tell us nothing about any particular woman. Nor may one construct a "standard" woman, in any other sense than he can construct a "standard" life span by reference to the mortality tables.