SEX, STATISTICS AND STEREOTYPES

摘要

The development of the science of epidemiology in the 18th and 19di centuries led to a greater understanding of the causes of disease related to the physical environment; unsafe water, poor sanitation and industrial pollution were identified amongst many other factors. During the 20~(th) century, it was a logical progression for the same epiderrriological principles to be applied to the social sciences, as researchers sought to quantify patterns of human behaviour and to examine the effect of lifestyle choices on health. The post-Second World w|r period saw a number of such studies which were to have far-reaching implications, including Doll and Bradford Hill's seminal work on smoking and lung cancer .However the publication in 1948 of the study by Kinsey et al into sexual behaviour patterns in American men caused something of a stir in both popular and scientific circles. Akhough there had been earlier publications on human sexuality, most of these had been aimed at a professional readership rather than at a wider audience. Indeed, in an attempt to limit their accessibility, some had been published in Latin although it is said that this did not prevent diem from achieving best-seller status. Kinsey's publication (and its successor dealing with female sexual behaviour marked the beginning of a new era of openness. In the years diat followed, a succession of sexually explicit scientific publications was to follow, but in time even the most detailed of these lost their impact on a society in which sexual references and imagery had become commonplace. The publication of the results of the second (2000) UK National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) warranted only a brief mention in the media despite presenting figures showing that early sexual experience, multiple partners and use of commercial sex workers were common in the UK.