Kinsey Scale

The Kinsey scale or Kinsey Scale establishes seven levels of sexual orientation where the extreme poles are complete homosexuality or total heterosexuality as we can see in the image above. According to the Kinsey Institute, there is no official test to measure exactly where we are on the scale, however, we can observe our behaviors and correctly identify our orientation.

Thanks to this scale, many people have been able to identify their sexual orientation more accurately since, as we can see in other personality theories in psychology , human behavior cannot be defined categorically (either all white or all black). ), rather we fluctuate and change throughout our lives.

Alfred Kinsey: biography and theory

Kinsey scale degrees

Next, we establish the levels that the Kinsey Institute has described to identify sexual orientation :

• 0. Exclusively heterosexual
• 1. Predominantly heterosexual, very occasional homosexuality
• 2. Predominantly heterosexual but with some homosexual behavior
• 3. Attraction to men and women to the same extent
• 4. Predominantly homosexual but with some heterosexual contact
• 5. Predominantly homosexual with very occasional heterosexual activity
• 6. Exclusively gay
• X. No sexual attraction – asexuality

Asexuality was added years later since it is a characteristic of sexual behavior that some people possess and that the original Kinsey scale did not include.

Origins of Kinsey scale

The Kinsey scale was created from the report that was made to thousands of volunteers of both sexes in the late 40’s and early 50’s in the United States. This report and the consequent scale could be carried out thanks to the change in attitudes towards sexuality caused in North America by the ideas of Freud , who was a pioneer in speaking openly about the various sexual problems that can affect people.

Based on interviews with more than 5,000 Americans about their sexual practices, Kinsey wrote two books ” Sexual Behavior of the Male ” (1947) and ” Sexual Behavior of the Female ” (1953). His study concluded that biological sex is not always linked to sexuality. emotional sex . He also defended that sexual behaviors that are considered deviant are normal, being considered abnormal to be exclusively heterosexual and that this occurs as a product of social conditioning and cultural inhibitions. Thus, he concluded that this dichotomy was too limiting, since there were many people who did not fit into either of the two poles, but ratherthe intermediate states were much more abundant than expected, there being a whole range of sexual orientations.

Although their study was criticized for using biased statistical methodology, a novel contribution by Kinsey and colleagues was that they quantified heterosexuality and homosexuality on a continuous scale of 0 to 6, based on each subject’s heterosexual and homosexual experience and reactivity. Individuals whose sexual contacts and experiences took place exclusively with individuals of the opposite sex were assigned 0 on this scale and exclusively homosexual individuals were assigned 6.

What does the scale consist of?

This scale measures the degree of homosexuality based on certain personality traits and sexual habits .

The scale has 7 levels ranging from heterosexuality to the purest homosexuality. A section is also included for those people who are asexual .

These would be the items of the scale.

1. Exclusively heterosexual . He has never had homosexual relationships and he doesn’t even consider it.
2. Predominantly straight, but accidentally gay. At first they are heterosexual and do not think about having relationships with people of the same sex, but they are curious and may manifest some homosexual experience throughout their lives.
3. Predominantly heterosexual, but more than accidentally homosexual . Repressed homosexual people feel a great attraction to their own sex, although their love relationships are usually with people of the opposite sex.
4. equally gay and straight
5. Predominantly homosexual rather than accidentally heterosexual . Homosexual people who lead a heterosexual lifestyle and who may be curious or have sporadic relationships with people of the other sex.
6. Predominantly Gay, Accidentally Straight . Homosexual person with some type of heterosexual relationship throughout his life
7. Exclusively gay .
8. No sexual or asexual relations . They do not feel sexual attraction to either of the two sexes.

So are we almost all bisexual?

As we have been able to observe according to the Kinsey scale, it is very common to have some degree of bisexuality , this is more common than pure heterosexuality or homosexuality.

At the time of its appearance, the Kinsey scale represented a different perspective on human sexuality, since it broke with the dichotomous and closed idea of ​​man-woman, with their associated gender roles.

This scale has been an inspiration in regards to gender studies because it goes beyond the idea of ​​heteronormality, and does not place heterosexuality at the center of social behaviors.

In short, thanks to this scale, heterosexuality as something normal will be considered an oversimplified social construction . This heteronormality has been seen as an excuse to exert social pressure on minorities that are outside of this normalized sexual orientation.

The importance of the Kinsey scale

Challenging the traditional concepts of hetero and homosexuality, Kinsey generated great controversy but, at the same time, allowed many people who did not fit into the binary classification, to begin to accept their sexuality, which until then was considered abnormal.

Perhaps in some future even the Kinsey scale will lose its validity, leaving room for a much broader and more variable understanding of sexuality, until then this scale is a way of claiming sexual diversity.

Criticism of the Kinsey scale