Kinsey and his colleagues (1948) believed that relying on the categories “homosexual” and “heterosexual” to describe sexual orientation was inadequate. They also suggested that using a category such as “homosexual” was not as helpful as talking about homosexual behavior. Trying to decide who is a homosexual is difficult; trying to compare amounts or types of homosexual behavior (including fantasies and emotions) is easier.
So Kinsey introduced a 7-point scale (see Figure 11.1) ranging from exclusively heterosexual behavior (0) to exclusively homosexual behavior (6). The Kinsey continuum was the first scale to suggest that people engage in complex sexual behaviors that are not reducible simply to “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Many modern theorists agree that sexual orientation is a continuous variable rather than a categorical variable—that is, there are no natural cutoff points that would easily separate people into categories such as “heterosexual” or “homosexual” (Berkey et al., 1990; L. Ellis et al., 1987).
The Kinsey scale is not without its problems, however. First, Kinsey emphasized people’s behavior (although he did consider other factors such as fantasies and emotions), but some researchers suggest that people’s emotions and fantasies are the most important determinants of sexual orientation (Bell et al., 1981; Storms, 1980, 1981). Second, the scale is static in time; how recently must one have had homosexual contact to qualify for “incidents” of homosexual behavior? Or consider Anthony from Personal Voices, “Defining Sexual Orientation.” If Anthony slept with 6 men over the last year and had sex with his wife once a week, is he in category 5 (because he had sex with 6 men and only 1 woman) or category 2 (because he had 52 experiences with a woman, but only 6 with men; F. Klein, 1990)?
Other models, such as the Klein sexual orientation grid (KSOG; see Figure 11.2), try to take the Kinsey continuum further by including 7 dimensions—attraction, behavior, fantasy, emotional preference, social preference, self-identification, and lifestyle (Horowitz et al., 2001). Each of these dimensions is measured for the past, the present, and the ideal. Take the KSOG to create a profile of your sexual orientation.
Figure 11.2
The Klein Sexual Orientation Grid was designed to examine seven dimensions of an individual’s sexual orientation to determine whether these dimensions have changed over time and to look at a person’s fantasy of his or her “ideal" sexual orientation. The KSOG gives a set of numbers that can be compared to determine rates of different sexual orientations. Use the Kinsey categories in this grid to rate yourself.
From Frtiz Klein, Homosexuality/Heterosexuality, p. 280. Reprinted with permission of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Inc.