Topic: WorldNetDaily
You know you're in for a wild, factually dubious ride when an article begins by calling Judith Reisman a "renowned expert on the life and work of sex scientist Alfred Kinsey." And that's exactly how a Feb. 21 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh begins.
Thus, Unruh racks up the first baseless claim of his article. In fact, as we've detailed, far from being "renowned" for her work on Kinsey, Reisman has repeatedly been proven to be biased, vindictive and factually flawed on the subject.
Reisman has a new DVD out -- which, unsurprisingly, WND is selling -- and in it, according to Unruh, Reisman "explains how Kinsey's campaign for extreme sexual permissiveness – many would say anarchy – now has resulted in aggressive demands for approval of alternative sexual lifestyles, rampant abortion, child molestations and even the kidnapping and killing of children." She calls Kinsey "one of America's original pornographers," and claims that "porn on the Internet" is his legacy. Unruh adds:
Reisman's documentary says, "Perhaps most disturbing, Alfred Kinsey has been accused of training pedophiles to work with stopwatches and record the responses of children being raped – all in the name of 'science.' Among his workers was a Nazi pedophile whose relationship to Kinsey was exposed in a German court. The information from these crimes was then recorded in 'Table 34' of Kinsey's ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.’ How can lawmakers use such a document to define the moral parameters of our society?"
But as we've noted, Poppy Dixon examined Reisman's claims regarding Table 34 and found that, contrary to Reisman's assertion, "Kinsey interviewed people who were engaged in illegal sexual activity, but did not encourage, or facilitate in any way, any sexual behavior. He did not 'allow...child abusers to conduct experiments' as the Kinsey institute conducted no experiments, nor trained anyone to do so." Further, Dixon stated, "The Kinsey Institute has never carried out sexual experiments on children, either during Alfred Kinsey's time as director or since."
Unruh also states that Reisman's DVD "highlights convicted mass murderer Ted Bundy and his death-bed revelations about the essential role of pornography in encouraging sexual predators to commit their crimes." But as we've also detailed, true-crime writer Ann Rule, who knew Bundy before he embarked on his killing spree, concluded that Bundy -- who made his comments about pornography to Focus on the Family's James Dobson -- was lying and playing to the sympathies of Dobson, as well as immortalizing himself as a victim, thus perpetuating the damage he caused:
Even in death, Ted damages women. They have sent for the Dobson tape, paying the $29.95 fee, and watch it over and over. They see compassion and sadness in his eyes. And they feel guilty and bereft. To get well, they must realize that they were conned by the master conman. They are grieving for a shadow man that never existed.
Of course, Unruh doesn't bother to tell his readers any of this -- after all, the purpose is to pimp Reisman's video. It's not until the 34th paragraph of his article that Unruh uses a spokesperson for the Kinsey Institute to tepidly counter Reisman's claims, written in a way that makes nothing the spokeswoman said a direct challenge to Reisman:
Institute spokeswoman Jennifer Bass told WND the organization doesn't release information about any of the "subjects" in Kinsey's research, but said there's no reason to worry that he obtained data from a Nazi pedophile or others who orchestrated their "research" to fit Kinsey's documentary needs.
"Kinsey was not a pedophile in any shape or form," the institute's website states. "He did not carry out experiments on children; he did not hire, collaborate, or persuade people to carry out experiments on children. He did not falsify research findings and there is absolutely no evidence that his research 'opened flood gates for the sexual abuse of children."
But even the institute admits some of the "behaviors" that were revealed to Kinsey during his "research" indeed constituted illegal activities, "including abuse of children."
The data, however, were accepted and used confidentially, and remain that way today.[...]
It also says Kinsey's "information about children's sexual responses" came from adults "recalling their own childhoods," as well as parents, teachers.
"Kinsey stated that there were nine men who he had interviewed who had sexual experiences with children who had told him about how the children had responded and reacted. We believe that one of those men was the source of the data listed in the book," the website continued.
Bass told WND the negative claims about Kinsey "just keep being repeated."
According to Unruh, Bass said Reisman was merely being negative -- not telling false claims. We suspect that's not entirely true, and that Unruh is massaging things to avoid the fact that the Kinsey Institute has indeed directly challenged Reisman's claims.
But Reisman isn't done lying: Unruh also states that Reisman said President Obama advocates teaching sex to very young children." Surprisingly, Unruh himself subtly debunks that one by going on to quote Obama as saying he supports "age-appropriate sex education."
Unruh also uncritically repeats Reisman's attack on David Ogden, a nominee for a top Justice Department post, claiming that Ogden "has contended there's a constitutional right to access pornography at public libraries." In fact, Ogden's legal arguments focused on the fact that "anti-porn" filtering software also blocks useful and constitutionally protected information (h/t Alan Colmes).
WND has previously published a Feb. 6 attack by Reisman on Ogden, claiming that Ogden shows "fealty" to "Big Porno."
