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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Lutz Sauerteig
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
This paper investigates how, in the aftermath of the publication of the Kinsey reports, East and West German sexology turned towards empirical sex research. It specifically looks into the political and cultural context of the Cold War under which West and East German sexologists and social scientists conducted surveys about young people’s sexual behaviours and moral beliefs. My paper argues that statistical data produced by sex surveys not only created a historical reality of young people’s sexual attitudes and behaviours but also shaped their sexual moral views and behaviours. Often quickly picked up by the press and popular media, the results of empirical sex research became widely available, often visualised in the form of tables, graphs, bar and pie charts etc. Statistical data presented, referred to, and disseminated by the wider media allowed and invited young people to relate their own behaviour and moral judgements to the statistical average of their peer-group.
Author(s): Sauerteig LDH
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Le rideau déchiré: La sexologie à l'heure de la guerre froide
Year: 2020
Volume: 37
Pages: 55-78
Print publication date: 07/01/2021
Acceptance date: 04/09/2019
Date deposited: 10/09/2019
ISSN (print): 1370-267X
Publisher: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles
URL: http://www.editions-ulb.be/fr/book/?gcoi=74530100107510
Notes: Issue title: Le rideau déchiré: La sexologie à l'heure de la guerre froide
