Intergenerational change in sex behavior: A belated look at Kinsey's males

This article replicates for Kinsey's male sample the decade-of-birth analyses provided in the Kinsey female volume. Five generations of male respondents are compared in terms of total frequency of sexual activity, and frequency and incidence of nine specific categories of sexual behavior. In general, unmarried males born after 1900 experienced more frequent sexual outlet than did nineteenth-century males. Additionally, the proportion of total outlet devoted to various specific activities varied by birth decade. Solitary masturbation rose somewhat spectacularly in significance with the passing decades, while nocturnal emissions and animal contacts declined. Orgasms provided by heterosexual activities increased slightly for the early twentieth-century generations, but then declined to a point below their nineteenth-century levels. Although homosexual contacts accounted for a constant percentage of total outlet for unmarried males over the five generations, more males in each succeeding generation were actively engaging in homosexual activity, at least on a casual basis. Similarly, although heterosexual contacts accounted for a smaller percentage of all activity among the unmarried in later generations, more of the later-born males had engaged in such activity at least once. For married males, on the other hand, frequency of total outlet was unaffected by generation. A large and stable proportion of this outlet was provided by marital coitus. Although more males in later generations had experienced extramarital contacts, such activities accounted for a small and reasonably stable proportion of total outlet, when frequency of occurrence was considered. Masturbation gained in significance, while nocturnal emissions and homosexual contacts declined, and animal contacts among the married were almost nonexistent in all generations.