Kinsey is generally regarded as the father of sexology, the systematic, scientific study of human sexuality. He became initially interested in variation of sexual practices around 1933 after discussing the topic extensively with a colleague, Robert Kroc. It is likely that his study of the variation of gall wasps led him to wonder how wide the variation of sexual practices among humans were.

In 1935, Kinsey delivered a lecture to a faculty discussion group at Indiana University, his first public discussion of the topic, wherein he attacked the "widespread ignorance of sexual structure and physiology" and promoted his view that "delayed marriage" (that is, delayed sexual experience) was psychologically harmful.

His Kinsey Reports led to a storm of controversy and turned Kinsey into an instant celebrity. Articles about him appeared in magazines such as Time, Life, Look, and McCall's. His reports were regarded by many as a trigger for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Indiana University's president Herman B Wells defended Kinsey's research in what became a well-known test of academic freedom.

Significant Publications:

1. "New Species and Synonymy of American Cynipidae" (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History) (1920)
2. "Life Histories of American Cynipidae" (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History) (1920)
3. "Phylogeny of Cynipid Genera and Biological Characteristics" (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History) (1920)
4. An Introduction to Biology (1926)
5. New Introduction to Biology (1933, revised 1938)
6. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948, reprinted 1998)
7. Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953, reprinted 1998)