Sex Institute Opens Its Doors to Public

B L O O M I N G T O N, Ind., Dec. 3 -- Visitors will gaze upon artwork by Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse and Chagall, a wooden statue of a nursing woman and, no doubt, some sexually explicit photographs.

Beginning Dec. 15, the Kinsey Institute at Indiana Universitywill offer the first regularly scheduled and publicly announcedtours of its offices for members of the general public 18 years oldand over. Other tours will be on Jan. 19 and Feb. 16.

“People should know about us,” Director John Bancroft said.“This a unique institute. There is nothing really like it in theworld.”

The institute conducts research on sexuality, gender andreproduction and maintains a large collection of books, art work,films and other items for scholarly use. It was incorporated as aprivate, nonprofit organization in 1947 with IU professor AlfredKinsey as its director.

Sexually Responsible Society

Its collections include more than 7,000 original works of art;approximately 75,000 photographic images dating to 1880; about80,000 books, journals and scientific articles; around 6,500 reelsof film; and a variety of artifacts spanning more than 2,000 yearsof human history.

The institute also holds all of Kinsey’s original sex researchdata and correspondence. Access to the collections, valued at morethan $30 million, is strictly controlled.

More than 600 IU students also have taken tours of theinstitute. Institute staff also have offered tours for non-scholarsin the past, but the publicly announced tours mark a change inpolicy.

The sexual material that pervades American culture makes thework of the institute more important today than ever before,Bancroft said. By studying sexuality, sexual images and ideas aboutboth, the institute can help a “confused and conflicted” society.

“I see openness and comfort with sexuality as something weshould all be moving toward as we become a more sexuallyresponsible society,” Bancroft said. “That process is going torequire good evidence and good information to back it up.”