Kinsey (2004)

Liam Neeson: Alfred Kinsey

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Quotes 

• Alfred Kinsey : [Kinsey is teaching his first class]  Who can tell me which part of the human body can enlarge a hundred times. You, miss?

  Female Student : [indignantly]  I'm sure I don't know. And you've no right to ask me such a question in a mixed class.

  Alfred Kinsey : [amused]  I was referring to the pupil in your eye, young lady.

  [class laughs] 

  Alfred Kinsey : And I think I should tell you, you're in for a terrible disappointment.

• Alfred Kinsey : Everybody's sin is nobody's sin, and everybody's crime is no crime at all.

• Reporter : Any plans on a Hollywood picture based on the book?

  Alfred Kinsey : I can't think of anything more pointless.

• Final Interview Subject : We'd been married for 23 years. We have three marvelous children. And as soon as my youngest left to go to college, I took a job - in an arts foundation. I met a woman there - a secretary in the grants office. We became fast friends and - before long, I fell in love with her. This came as quite a shock as you might imagine. The more I tried to ignore it, the more powerful it became. You have no idea what its like to have your own thoughts turn against you like that. I couldn't talk to anyone about my situation. So, I found other ways to cope. I took up drinking. Eventually, my husband left me. Even my children fell away. I came very close to ending it all.

  Alfred Kinsey : Its just another reminder of how little things have changed in our society.

  Final Interview Subject : What are you talking about? Things have gotten much better.

  Alfred Kinsey : Oh? What happened?

  Final Interview Subject : Why you did, of course. After I read your book I realized how many other women were in the same situation. I mustered the courage to talk to my friend and she told me, to my great surprise, that the feelings were mutual. We've been together for three happy years now. You saved my life, sir.

• Thurman Rice : There's a cure for syphilis and it's called abstinence.

  Alfred Kinsey : Penicillin works just as well - permanently!

• Clyde Martin : Just one more question. You've just told me your entire history: childhood, family, career, every person you've ever had sex with. But there hasn't been a single mention of love.

  Alfred Kinsey : That's because it's impossible to measure love. And, as you know, without measurements there can be no science. But I have been thinking a lot about the problem lately.

  Clyde Martin : Mmh, "problem"?

  Alfred Kinsey : When it comes to love, we're all in the dark.

  Clyde Martin : So, you do think it matters?

• Clyde Martin : [re: sexuality chart]  So what do you think you are now?

  Alfred Kinsey : [nervously]  Probably around a... 3

  Clyde Martin : Have you ever done anything about it?

  Alfred Kinsey : [shakes his head] 

  Clyde Martin : Would you like to?

• Alfred Kinsey : The doctors say my heart sounds like a cement mixer.

  Clyde Martin : At least they found one.

• Alfred Kinsey : Mac, did I ever tell you about the Mbeere?

  Clara McMillen : No, not that I recall.

  Alfred Kinsey : They're an ancient East African tribe. They believe that trees are imperfect men... eternally bemoaning their imprisonment. The roots that keep them stuck in one place. But I've never seen a discontented tree. Look at this one! The way its roots are gripping the ground. I believe it really loves it.

• Alfred Kinsey : I'm trying to find out why people hate this book so.

  Clara McMillen : You told them their grandmothers and their daughters are masturbating, having pre-maritial sex, sex with each other. What did you expect?

  Alfred Kinsey : Some respect!

• Alfred Kinsey : I sometimes wonder what this country would look like if the Puritans had stayed at home. What if all the rogues and libertines had crossed the Atlantic instead?

• [from trailer] 

  Alfred Kinsey : Love is the answer, isn't it? But sex raises a lot of very interesting questions...

• Alfred Kinsey : Hello, I'm Professor Kinsey form Indiana University and I'm making a study of sex behaviors. Can we sit and talk?

  Effete Man in Gay Bar : I assume you're joking.

  Alfred Kinsey : No, I'm not. I'd be grateful if you'd answer some questions about your sexual history.

  Effete Man in Gay Bar : [to his arriving friend]  Mary here is a Professor. She says she wants to study my sex behavior.

  Effete Man's Friend : Well, tell him to stick around and watch.

• Alfred Kinsey : When it comes to love, we are all in the dark.

• Alfred Kinsey : I see marriage as a life-time partnership between equals.

• Alfred Kinsey : That very interesting Miss Millen. You've managed to bridge the gap between Darwin and the book of Genesis in a single phrase.

• Alfred Kinsey : I can assure you, there's no relation between oral sex and pregnancy.

  Ben : But, how do you know?

  Alfred Kinsey : How do I know the earth is round? It just is.

  Ben : But, has anyone actually proven that there's no connection?

  Alfred Kinsey : If you're asking if there's been a scientific study devoted to the subject of oral copulation and fertility, well, frankly I don't know.

  Ben : Well, then how can you be sure?

• Alfred Kinsey : If something pleasurable and strongly desired is prohibited, it becomes an obsession. Think about this.

• Alfred Kinsey : The sex histories we have are invaluable. Everyone knows true science lies in direct observation. Nothing can replace what the eye can see directly - or the camera.

  Alan Gregg : Camera? Don't tell me - you're making movies?

  Alfred Kinsey : Just some photographic studies of mammalian behavior.

  Alan Gregg : Oh, nature films. Animals?

  Alfred Kinsey : Yes, if you like.

• Alfred Kinsey : For years, women have been told that the clitoral orgasm is immature, neurotic. So, they've struggled with great anxiety to relocate the orgasm in the vagina. When, for many, its a biologic impossibility.

• Kenneth Braun : Don't worry, Dr. Kinsey. I trust you. We're actually a lot alike, you know.

  Alfred Kinsey : How so?

  Kenneth Braun : I record everything too. The depth of every vagina I've encountered. The length and circumference of every penis. The time to reach orgasm. The distance of ejaculation. I've written it all down. This is a record of my life's *real* work. Which is sex, by the way. I find that recording is a way to experience things a second time, don't you?

• Clyde Martin : You know, this thing between Prok and me was fine for a while, but I guess I just really miss sleeping with women.

  Alfred Kinsey : That's perfectly understandable. It's clear from your history you have a greater sexual interest in women than men.

  Clyde Martin : Good. Then you won't mind if I ask Mac to have sex with me. Only if it appeals to you, of course.

  Clara McMillen : Would it be separately or together?

  Clyde Martin : Oh, no, definitely just you and I.

  Clara McMillen : I think I might like that. What do you think, Prok?

• [first lines] 

  Alfred Kinsey : Don't sit so far away. Anything that creates a distance should be avoided.

• Alfred Kinsey : Never make judgments about people.

  Wardell Pomeroy : I wasn't.

  Alfred Kinsey : Your body posture told me that my list of ailments made you uncomfortable.

  Wardell Pomeroy : Maybe it did. Sorry.

  Alfred Kinsey : Maintaining a nonjudgemental attitude is harder than you think. The best way is to smile, nod your head, while looking at me directly in the eye.

• Paul Gebhard : How old were you when you first tried to pleasure yourself?

  Alfred Kinsey : No! No. No euphemisms. If you're talking to a college graduate use masturbation, testicles, penis, vagina, vulva, urination, defecation. With a lower level male, it's jacking off, balls, prick, cunt, piss, shit.

• Alfred Kinsey : Ben, do you ever perform oral sex on Emily?

  Ben : I don't know what that means, sir.

  Alfred Kinsey : Genital kissing.

  Ben : My brother told me that that causes problems - later on - with having babies.

  Alfred Kinsey : Oh, I don't think that's true.

• Alfred Kinsey : I felt like a blundering amateur. I couldn't imagine where those kids' crazy idea came from until I discovered this, "Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique."

  Clara McMillen : Oh, dear.

  Alfred Kinsey : [reading from the book]  "Oral contact, while acceptable as a means of stimulation is pathological if carried through to orgasm and possibly injurious."

  Clara McMillen : I must be in *grave* danger then.

• Alfred Kinsey : It's all just hooey! Morality disguised as fact.

• Alfred Kinsey : Not only is your class irrelevant, it's irresponsible. There's a VD epidemic sweeping this country, Herman.

  Thurman Rice : And that's my fault? I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered.

• Alfred Kinsey : Why not address the need for sex instruction that deals frankly with students real questions, real concerns?

  Thurman Rice : Open sex instruction promotes daydreaming. It is better to address these matters in a general medical course.

  Alfred Kinsey : You mean an anti-sex course - with irrelevant gabble about dahlias and bees.

• Alfred Kinsey : Why offer a marriage course? Because society has interfered with what should be a normal biological development, causing a scandalous delay of sexual activity, which leads to sexual difficulty in early marriage. In an uninhibited society, a 12 year old would know most of the biology which I will have to give you in formal lectures.

• Alfred Kinsey : Stimulation, lubrication, erection, increased sensitivity, orgasm, and nervous release. Both sexes experience all six stages equally.

• Alfred Kinsey : Is my penis smaller than most? Does too much masturbation cause premature ejaculation? Is it unusual for my boyfriend to touch my anus? All excellent questions. They all have the same answer: I don't know. From a sexual standpoint it's hard to say what's common or rare; because, we know so little about what people actually do. This leaves most of us feeling anxious or guilty. Am I interested in the right things? Do I do things the normal way? One of the ways of finding out what people do, is to find out what they've done. So, please, take the time to fill out these sex questionnaires. Try to be as accurate and honest as you possibly can.

• Alfred Kinsey : Martin's been surprisingly helpful. He's an ideal practice subject since he's had relations with both men and women.

• Alfred Kinsey : Fine liquor is an essential tool for social lubrication. Though it involves more drinking than I thought I would ever do in a lifetime.

• Alfred Kinsey : Why didn't I see if before? Human beings are just bigger, slightly more complicated gall wasps. All I have to do is collect more than anyone else. Homosexuals are the perfect place to start.

• Alfred Kinsey : You're just afraid that I won't love you anymore, which is impossible Mac. The human animal is capable of all kinds of sexual expression. Not all sex has to be sanctioned by love, enriched by emotion. To the Greeks...

  Clara McMillen : Stop! Stop lecturing, Prok. Stop using science to justify what you've done!

• Alfred Kinsey : Most people think that what they do sexually is what everyone does or should do. But, I might remark that nearly all the so-called sexual perversions fall within the range of biologic normality. For examples, masturbation, mouth genital contacts, and homosexual contacts, are common among most mammals, including humans. Society might condemn such practices on moral grounds. However, its ludicrous to call them unnatural. But, based on the first book of Genesis and according to public opinion, there's only one correct sexual equation: man plus woman equals baby. Everything else is vice. But, the orgasm record of the males in this classroom alone, prove the ineffectiveness of social restrictions and the imperativeness of the biological demand.

• Alfred Kinsey : Why are some cows highly sexed? While others just stand there? Why do some men need 30 orgasms a week and others almost none? Because everyone is different. The problem is most want to be the same. They find it easier to simply ignore this fundamental aspect of the human condition. They're so eager to be part of the group, that they'll betray their own nature to get there.

• Alfred Kinsey : One key toward understanding a foreign culture is its pornography. Every culture produces its own peculiar sexual imagery as distinct as its cuisine. As you can see, Brazil's imagery tends towards zoophilia, while Italy favors nuns and priests. And England, one often sees depictions of the stern head mistress, wankers and spankers. While in the Far East it's soft flage and light bondage.

• Alan Gregg : It's been said that you've taken to observing women.

  Alfred Kinsey : Go on.

  Alan Gregg : In a heightened state of arousal. It's true?

  Alfred Kinsey : Yes. And do you know why? We went to the leading gynecologists and asked for the physical measurements and they barely know what we were talking about. When it comes to female sex organs, we're all tragically ignorant.

  Alan Gregg : Who are these women?

  Alfred Kinsey : Volunteers. Friends of the project.

  Alan Gregg : Prostitutes!

  Alfred Kinsey : No! Prostitutes are useless. They fake their orgasms.

• Alfred Kinsey : In the bonobo chimpanzee, our nearest primate relation, sex is the glue of social cohesion and peace. Cleared of notions like romantic love or religion or morality, their society's behavior hangs together as a coherent unit of biology and conditioning.

• Alfred Kinsey : Based on the experiences of females who have contributed to our histories, we have observed a wide range of motivations for extra-marital coitus. At times it is a conscious or unconscious attempt to acquire social status. In other instances, it gives them a variety of experiences with new sexual partners who are sometimes superior to their marriage partner. There are occasions when it is done in retaliation of the partner's extra-marital activity or for some sort of nonsexual mistreatment. Some females discover new sources of emotional satisfaction. While others find it possible to share such an intimate relationship with more than one partner. We have also encountered a considerable group of cases in which husbands encourage their wives to engage in extra-maritial activities in an honest attempt to give them the opportunity for additional sexual satisfaction.

• Kenneth Braun : I suppose someone like me really puts your beliefs to the test, huh?

  Alfred Kinsey : How?

  Kenneth Braun : You know, everybody should do what they want.

  Alfred Kinsey : I've never said that. No one should be forced to do *anything* against their will. No one should ever be hurt.

  Kenneth Braun : You know, you're a lot more square than I thought you'd be.

• Alan Gregg : Hoover is still annoyed that you won't help him find homosexuals in the State Department. It is rumored that he is compiling dossiers - on you, the actives of your staff. And, as you well know, there have been complaints about your statistical methods.

  Alfred Kinsey : Trumped up nonsense. Nothing but disguised prudery.

• Clyde Martin : This has nothing to do with the project.

  Alfred Kinsey : Everything is about the project!

• Alfred Kinsey : Ohio deplores fellatio; but, tolerates cunnilingus. Whereas, in my home state of Indiana, all forms of oral sex are illegal - even within marriage. The current sex laws are completely out of touch with the real world.

  Huntington Hartford : I've had four wives. Some people say that makes me a sex offender.

  Marjorie Hartford : Well, hon, if you keep interrupting Dr. Kinsey, you're going to have find a fifth.

• Clara McMillen : A gall wasp in amber! How old is it?

  Alfred Kinsey : About 80 million years or so. Does Mrs. Kinsey like her wedding present?

  Clara McMillen : It's perfect.

• Alfred Kinsey : Let's get back to masturbation.

• Alfred Kinsey : The fact is, America is awash in sexual activity - only a small portion of which is sanctioned by society.

• Alfred Kinsey : Sexual morality *needs* to be reformed - and science will show the way.

• Alfred Kinsey : The enforcers of chastity are amassing once again - to dissuade the scientist, intimidate him, convince him to cease research.

• [last lines] 

  Alfred Kinsey : Come on, Mac.

  Clara McMillen : What's the hurry?

  Alfred Kinsey : There's a lot of work to do!