He subsequently wrote several academic works about his experience, including Inis Beag: Isle of Ireland and Sex and Repression in an Irish Folk Community.
Messenger states that during the period of his study between 1958 and 1966[citation needed], Inis Beag supported a population of around 350, mostly living by subsistence farming and fishing.
These included "the traditional garb of the folk, their skill in rowing the famed canoe, called curach, the manner in which they manufacture soils and grow in them a variety of crops, and their Gaelic speech.
He attributed the rise in English to a practical view of language; many young people emigrate and would be disadvantaged by speaking only Irish.
He also reported that islanders tended to bathe only the hands, face, and feet and developed an "obsessive fear" of nudity early in life.
Messenger found that couples left their underclothes only partially removed and used only the male superior position, and when the man orgasmed, he fell asleep almost immediately.
[7] Messenger argues that people of the island behaved like this due to informal and formal social control and extreme ignorance.
described the violent bodily reactions of a girl to his fondling" and when Messenger explained, he "admitted not knowing that women also could achieve climax.
He describes Messenger's account in Inis Beag (1969), along with two other American anthropological works on Irish society from that time as “highly coloured”.