Censorship vs. Sex Study

It is well known that the reports published by the Institute for Sex Research, the organization headed by Dr. Alfred Kinsey until his untimely death, have been greeted with much scorn and derision by the public at largo 18 well as by professionals in the same or related fields. Our culture would seem to oppose any objective research into sex.

At the February public discussion meeting of the DOB Mrs. Bernice Engle, research associate of Langley Porter Clinic in San Francisco, pointed up some of the difficulties inherent in the study of sexual differences in man.

It is not generally realized, however, how important to researchers as a whole (and indirectly to all the people of the world) is the decision made last fall to release to the Sex Research Institute the immense mass of material held by the government since 1952 on the charge that it was obscene and immoral.

Dr. Kinsey applied in 1952 for permission to import a large number of books, articles and artifacts for study at the Institute of Sex Research. This permission was denied and the material was siezed by the U. S. Customs Service with the demand that it be destroyed.

The fight in the courts continued for seven years, and Dr. Kinsey did not live to see it won.

Many scientists signed affidavits attesting to the importance of allowing freedom of study. Both sides agreed to a summary judgment from the court, without the use of a jury. The Government based its case on the material alone. The Institute pointed out that it was to be used for study only, would not be available to the general public and would not appeal to the prurient interests of scholars studying it.

Judge Palmieri, presiding, seemed to take it for granted that scientists wouldn't be too titillated. He pointed

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