Our visit to the Kinsey Institute almost didn’t happen at all as none of us ever look at the syllabus so we missed our first assigned tour date. Jack was able, however, to set up a new date and brought chocolate truffles for our tour guide, Ms. Jennifer Bass, as an offering of thanks and as an apology for our forgetfulness. Ms. Bass first showed us a hallway lined with pictures of people important to the Kinsey institute-pictures not only of Kinsey himself but also of his fellow researchers and IU President Herman B. Wells, who supported Kinsey’s work even when the vast majority did not. On the other side of this wall, we were introduced to famous writers, researchers, actors, and a variety of other individuals who’s attention had been captured by Kinsey’s work and which had led them to visit the Kinsey Institute. During this time, Ms. Bass also gave some background on Kinsey and his controversial work in the area of sexual research. On our map you can view pictures of Kiney along with pictures of his second and more controversial book, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female", and a packed hall where he lectured.

Our tour continued by examining a wall of current areas of research that are taking place at the Institute. Notably, we learned that most participants in the surveys and other forms of research conducted at the Institute are students; so we, as IU students, are all potentially research participants.

Next, Ms. Bass led us to the Kinsey Institute library, which she noted you must usually have special permission to enter. Our class seemed the most interested in the flipbooks; sort of a testament to the history of sexual cartoons. Each Effin’s went though the books with intent interest, before passing it around to another interested Effin next to them or across the table. Penthouse magazines were intertwined in the stacks of books being ready to be replaced on the shelves. Ms. Bass showed us a glass case full of historical sexual artifacts, one being a letter which Freud had written to Kinsey.

Our final stop on the tour was the Kinsey art gallery. It contained various depictions of the human form and of sexual behavior-some of them heterosexual, while many of them showed homosexual behavior. Ms. Bass noted that many of the artists were not known during their lifetime to be homosexual but that their art was a means of expression for them and that many of these pieces were not released until after the artist had passed away.

Throughout the entire tour, the Effin’s were very respectful and all seemed interested in the topic and willing to participate in discussion. Most importantly though, our class was very respectful when dealing with arguably controversial topics such as homosexuality. As William noted in class, not all groups of IU students would have been as respectful or open to these depictions. On this trip we all demonstrated our goal of furthering our collective knowledge by participating in all of the parts of the tour and by maintaining our free-flowing attitude when interpreting all the new information and perspectives that were presented to us.

Our trip to the Kinsey Institute was relevant to our class in a number of ways. In our class we have certain standards that do not include sexual "relations" within the classroom. Kinsey and his research is also the most centrally located area of the world and different cultures that we studied within our class. Finally, the visit to the Kinsey Institute, as noted earlier, gave us the chance to show our open-mindedness not only in class, but outside of class too.