Conservative knickers twisted over Kinsey

Out director Bill Condon's Kinsey opens in select markets Friday, accompanied by both Oscar buzz and what Variety reports is an effort on behalf of conservative groups to smear both the film and its subject, sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. The trade paper quotes the director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, who compares Kinsey to Dr. Josef Mengele. Many conservative groups blame Kinsey's groundbreaking research into human sexuality for everything from the gay rights movement to sex education in schools. Nancy Utley, marketing president for Kinsey distributor Fox Searchlight, says the protests prove that the film is relevant to today's culture, going so far as to quote the film directly: "The forces of chastity are amassing once again." She went on to note that protests were expected but not feared. "We're not here to defend Kinsey to them," noted Utley. "We're here to get the movie out." Liam Neeson, who stars as Kinsey, told Variety, "Kinsey did release the genie from the bottle--and you can't put the genie back in the bottle."