Editing Alfred Kinsey (section)

=== Social Life: Controlled, Coded, and Difficult ===
Kinsey’s private life was marked by '''interpersonal strangeness''' and behavioral rigidity. He married Clara McMillen and fathered children, but his domestic life was distant and emotionally minimal. His colleagues noted his '''flat tone''', his avoidance of casual conversation, and his compulsive working hours, which excluded almost all personal relaxation or spontaneous interaction.

He insisted on absolute control over his research environment—often micromanaging interview scripts, office layout, even furniture positioning—revealing the '''obsessional patterning of space and process''' found in many individuals with autism.

There are numerous reports of Kinsey's '''inability to read social norms''': his frank discussions of taboo topics, his blunt confrontation of politicians and clergy, and his failure to understand the cultural volatility of his research. He did not seek controversy, but simply failed to imagine that '''others wouldn’t think literally, as he did'''.
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