I could think of nothing sexier or more exciting than being Sigmund Freud or Eric Berne. There was something thrilling to me about these people who were, often for the first time, documenting and theorizing about human experience and behaviour.

I first learned about Alfred Kinsey when I was 10 or 11 years old. My father was a sex therapist and our den was filled with books about sex, including both of Kinsey's famous sexual surveys. Even though we were all more than allowed to look at these books I remember sneaking around to take one up to my room. I would look at the charts, read what I could comprehend, and dream of the future. Come to think of it, this probably explains a lot of my academic fetish.

But I digress…. When the opportunity presented itself to actually travel to Bloomington, Indiana the place where Kinsey lived and worked for most of his life and meet the current faculty and staff of the Kinsey Institute I was giddy as a schoolgirl. Giddy, and a little scared.

Aside from the Institute's reputation as being one of the top centers for sex research, it also has a reputation of being wary of media. Given the media's sensationalist approach to sex matters this is hardly surprising, but still daunting for a researcher. Between that and the idea of trying to convey something about Kinsey's life in thirteen minutes I was something of a mess before arriving. Luckily the people at the Kinsey Institute were not only engaging and interesting interviews, they were all exceptionally kind and hospitable, making the trip and the story a joy.

And the best part of all is that because everyone there was so nice, and I never actually met Kinsey (who sounds like a brilliant, but possibly "difficult" man) I left Bloomington with all my childhood idealism and fantasy intact.

Cory Silverberg
Researcher, SexTV