Uploaded on May 27, 2011
Judith A. Reisman (pron.: /ˈriːsmən/; born April 11, 1935) is a controversial American conservative writer best known for her criticism and condemnation of the work and legacy of Alfred Kinsey. She is noted as “the founder of the modern anti-Kinsey movement.”[1] Her commentary is currently featured by WorldNetDaily and Salvo (magazine).[2][3]
Contents 1 Advocating for children
- 2 Erototoxins
- 3 Homosexuals and Nazism
- 4 Mapplethorpe exhibition obscenity trial
- 5 Litigation against the Kinsey Institute
- 6 Bibliography
- 7 See also
- 8 References
- 9 External links
Advocating for children
Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal has documented how her daughter’s molestation set Reisman on the path of researching Kinsey’s activities. Following the sexual assault, the boy and his family slipped out of the country, while her daughter lapsed into a deep depression. Fifteen years later she died from a brain aneurysm, which Reisman suspected was linked to the earlier trauma.[4]
Children in the Kinsey reports
Over the following years her accusations against Kinsey became increasingly serious; she said he was a fraud who had employed and relied on pedophiles for his research,[5] and went on to claim that Kinsey himself sexually abused children. This allegation drew a response from Kinsey biographer James H. Jones, who wrote that unless new evidence to the contrary becomes available, Reisman’s claims that Kinsey may have witnessed or personally participated in child molestation under the guise of scientific research must be considered groundless.[6]
Prior to the release of the 2004 film Kinsey, Reisman and Laura Schlessinger attempted to place an advertisement “alleging Kinsey was a pervert and a pedophile”.[7]
Images of children, crime and violence
In 1983 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was headed by social conservatives, including Alfred S. Regnery in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Reisman had given a talk on a Washington, D.C. radio program and CNN’s Crossfire about the “connections between sex education, sex educators, and the pornography industry” which was heard by a member of the DOJ and she was asked to discuss her views in person, which “struck a common chord […] especially those opposed to sex education in the schools.” She was then invited to apply for a grant, which was approved without competition for the amount of $798,531 (though later reduced to $734,371), to undertake a “study at American University to determine whether Playboy, Hustler and other more explicit materials are linked to violence by juveniles.”[5][8][9] The allocation came under criticism as the grant was approved despite a staff memo from Pamela Swain, a director of research, evaluation and program development, in which she claimed that the study could be accomplished for $60,000.[8]
By 1986, Reisman concluded her investigation of “372 issues of Playboy, 184 issues of Penthouse and 125 issues of Hustler” that found “2,016 cartoons that included children apparently under the age of 17 and 3,988 other pictures, photographs, and drawings that depict infants or youths,” the details of which were collected into “a three-volume report running to 1,600 pages” titled “Images of Children, Crime and Violence in Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler.”[10] The report drew contemporary criticism in regards to its cost and its quality.[9][11] Sex crime researcher Avedon Carol commented that the report was a “scientific disaster, riddled with researcher bias and baseless assumptions.”[12] The American University (AU), where Reisman’s study had been academically based, refused to publish the completed work, citing concerns by an independent academic auditor. Criminologist Robert Figlio of the University of Pennsylvania[13] stated “The term child used in the aggregate sense in this report is so inclusive and general as to be meaningless.”[10]
Author Susan Trento chronicled additional complexities surrounding the episode. Initially, Reisman was targeted by some as a proxy to attack Regnery. The nature of Reisman’s grant work and the concurrent Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, which would author the Meese Report in 1986, caused anxiety in the pornography industry. Fears began to come to fruition when 7-Eleven stores stopped selling Playboy and Penthouse, in part citing Reisman’s work. Trento writes that the public relations firm headed by Robert Keith Gray was hired by Playboy and Penthouse “to discredit Meese’s Pornography Commission” specifically as well as others that threatened their business, presumably including Reisman.[5][14] “Whatever the merits of her research,” Trento wrote, when support from the OJJDP was needed most, its leadership backed away from Reisman leaving her project to fail and Reisman feeling “bitter” and “helpless” after “spending years developing an expertise and doing what she thought was an excellent job in the public interest.”[5]
Sources of child sexual abuse
When Playboy and Penthouse printed nude photos of Madonna in 1985, Reisman warned that because of the entertainer’s idolization by youth, their publication would destigmatize and “encourage voluntary display by youngsters,” leading to an increase in child pornography.[15]
Allegations of homosexual recruitment of children
Reisman has claimed that the homosexuals employ recruitment techniques that rival those of the United States Marine Corps.[1] Reisman cited “a clear avenue for the recruitment of children” by homosexuals in her public support of Oregon Ballot Measure 9 (1992).[16] In 1994 Reisman spoke at a conference of Christian right leaders in Colorado Springs, saying that homosexual “recruitment is loud; it is clear; it is everywhere.” She estimated the homosexual population at the time to be 1-2% but predicted at least 20% (and possibly over 30%) “of the young population will be moving into homosexual activity” as a result of recruitment.[4]
Learn more about Dr. Judith Reisman’s Wikipedia
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