Tonight, we had sushi with B and D, then went to see Kinsey. I thought the acting was exceptional (except, perhaps, for Chris O'Donnell, who looked lost and miscast). I really, really liked the film. Okay, I might be biased, but it portrayed Kinsey as so radical in his thinking at a time when almost no one else was. His support of polyamory and non-monogamy was unheard of for the time, and although he may have lacked boundaries when he came to setting up rules or picking partners, I still appreciated it. His vision of the diversity and uniqueness of every individual's sexuality, and the notion that he judged nothing and no one is fundamental to my work today. I really appreciated, too, how uncompromising he was. Lots of people say he was losing it toward the end of his life, and you definitely get that sense in the film, but I so heavily identifed with how driven, passionate, and, yes, sometimes obsessed, he was about changing the way society viewed sex. I saw my workaholic self in him, how I can become so immersed in a project, I lose sight of everyone and everything around me. I love it when a film makes me think as much as this one did.

I'm still shocked and appalled at how the religious right has been protesting the film and writing blatant lies about Kinsey and his work in an attempt to discredit him. Sex News Daily has stayed on top of all the so-called controversy, and has a good link to Frank Rich's story in the New York Times.  I admit it was startling to see some of today's anti-sex backlash and conservatism in a film that took place many decades ago. The idea that we are still stuck in this puritanical place, that there is still SO LITTLE funding for research on sexuality (unless it's a study on Viagra or other pharmaceuticals) is unbelievable. And remember, President Bush will spend $170 million this year on Abstinence Only education---more than double what the government was spending when Bush took office in 2001. My tax dollars hard at work.