Reading Alfred C. Kinsey: Sexuality and Discourse in Mid-Century America

Abstract

This project concerns various 20th-century rhetorical strategies for sexual liberation. First, I examine the work of Alfred C. Kinsey through the theories of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. In the second chapter I look at Kinsey's Female volume and argue that he uses the mid-century concern for marriage as a strategy for sexual liberation. Next, I trace the ways in which four female, post-Kinsey writers use Kinsey (explicitly or implicitly) for their own particular strategies for sexual liberation. Finally, my conclusion asks how we can develop an effective strategy for this new century.