ABSTRACT
American psychiatrists and criminologists, such as Frank Lydston, Adolf Meyer and William Healy, were at the forefront of investigations into degeneracy, delinquency and sexual psychopathology. Although some of the pioneering sexologists focused on the diagnosis, classification and treatment of perversions, others sought to examine 'normal sexuality'. A number of historians have pointed to the early-twentieth century as a time of significant change in sexual practices and public discourses on sex. The shift to sexual modernity, characterized by love, sexual pleasure and individual satisfaction, however, was protracted and contested. Sex research led in many directions. In the inter-war years, forensic criminologists, sexologists and social investigators became important producers of knowledge about sexual practices through new survey techniques. In 1949 Mass Observation undertook a large survey of sexual attitudes and behaviours, known as 'Little Kinsey', largely aimed at exploring how young men and women found out about the facts of life. Kinsey transformed the discipline of sex research.
