Ever wanted to contribute to scientific research about the bedroom? Have a smartphone? A new app might be the one for you – and be salacious, too…
It was only a matter of time until Smartphones got involved with our bedrooms. However, this time it’s all in pursuit of science.
If you’ve never heard of Alfred Kinsey, you should have – he was one of the first people to study intimacy as a scientific, statistical phenomenon, rather than something we quietly sweep under the rug.
Kinsey interviewed thousands of Americans in the 1950s, and the resulting study was one of the first in the world to matter-of-factly talk about S&M, homosexuality, fantasies, masturbation and all kinds of other aspects.
Now the Kinsey Institute is trying to carry on this statistical work using – of course – a smartphone app.
They’ve invented the Kinsey Reporter, an app which allows participating people to upload all their intimate experiences to a database to help researchers understand human intimate behaviour.
Anywhere, anytime, the contributors – who are anonymous – can upload any ‘event’ that touches on the Kinsey Institute’s interests, all over the world.
It’s a way to try and fix the problems of statistics about the bedroom.
People are shy; they lie to try and ‘improve their reputation’; they’re ashamed of certain aspects of their intimate practise; they don’t want to admit cheating; or they simply forget.
A day-to-day analysis of your intimacy is much easier to keep track of than a page-long survey after a month. It’s like counting calories – one meal at a time.
Plus, uploading immediately gives less time for people to reflexively hide their activities – it can be impulsive, and therefore more truthful.
The catches? There are several.
One, which got the Kinsey Reporter pulled for a review a few months after launching, was privacy.
Who can access the information? What prevents uploaders from divulging the intimate personal information of somebody else? Do the partners get any say?
Another is that it’s not, perhaps, very good science.
Smartphone users are still in the minority worldwide. The Kinsey Institute wants to know about sexuality all over the world – in every region and every culture – but right now it’s restricted to people who can afford a phone.
Still, there has been a huge spike in data, and the Kinsey Institute is proud of its current app, saying it’s a ‘light-hearted’ way to try and find out more about how humans get intimate and what fetishes correspond to which regions.
Will you be downloading the Kinsey Reporter?
Image: Kinsey Reporter on a smartphone.
