Scales of sexual orientation are classification schemes of different sexual orientations. Definitions of the term sexual orientation normally include two components: the "psychological" and the "behavioral" component, but definitions of the two components vary between researchers and across time.Sell, R. L. (1997) "Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation: A Review" Archives of Sexual Behavior. 26: 643–58. Those difficulties motivate researchers to define scales to measure and describe sexual orientation. Most sexual behavior and sexual orientation scales are motivated by the view that sexual orientation is a continuum. The Kinsey scale works from a continuum viewpoint and is the most prevalent sexual orientation scale.
Hirschfeld Scale
Possibly the first scale that evaluated sexual orientation of a person on a continuum was presented by the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld in his 1896 work Sappho und Sokrates.
This scale involved two bars that corresponded to the same and the opposite sex (bars A and B, respectively). The bars could be rated from 1 to 10, with 1 being complete indifference to that sex and 10 being tremendous sexual interest. Hirschfeld suggested that typical heterosexuals (which he called "full man and women") would have scores of A:1-3 / B:8-10; typical bisexuals (which he called "spiritual/mental hermaphrodites") would have graph scores of around 5 for both; and typical homosexuals (which he called "Urnings") would have scores of A:8-10 / B:1-3. Hirschfeld also recognized the existence of people that would score very low on both of these axes, under the label "anesthesia sexualis" (a term coined by Richard von Krafft-Ebing).
Hirschfeld argued that since during early developmental stages of the fetus, the genitalia were undetermined, so were the cerebral "center" that determined sexual orientation; and thus, he considered all humans at this stage both externally hermaphroditic and internally bisexual. He suggested that during fetal (and later pubertal) development, as external sexual characteristics developed, so did orientation towards the other sex grow stronger and suppress the orientation towards the same sex. Thus, Hirschfeld considered bisexuals and homosexuals to have deviations in their cerebral development that led to poorer suppression of the drive for one's own sex and/or lack of growth in the drive for the other sex. Based on this premise, he also argued that fighting against one's own developmental nature was a fruitless task and that their sexual orientations should be accepted as they are.
Kinsey scale
The Kinsey scale (also Kinsey homosexual-heterosexual scale) was first presented by Alfred Kinsey in his two influential books Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953).Kinsey, A. C. et al. (1953) "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female." Indiana University Press. The two books are often referred to as "the Kinsey Reports". The scale was used to classify and quantify homosexual and heterosexual behaviour across the American population. It assesses both overt sexual behaviour as well as sexual fantasies.
Categories Kinsey used seven categories (0–6) to classify sexual orientation as a continuum plus an additional category labeled X (no socio-sexual contacts or reactions). Equal intervals were assumed between the single categories, except for X.https://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php Kinsey Scale 23 August 2016 The measurement for sexual behaviour was relative to the subject's full number of sexual encounters, rather than an absolute number of sexual encounters with the same sex.
Rating Description 0 Exclusively heterosexual 1 Predominantly heterosexual/incidentally homosexual 2 Predominantly heterosexual but more than incidentally homosexual 3 Equally heterosexual and homosexual 4 Predominantly homosexual but more than incidentally heterosexual 5 Predominantly homosexual/only incidentally heterosexual 6 Exclusively homosexual X No socio-sexual contacts or reactions
Testing method
Subject sexual orientation was assessed in a structured personal interview. This interview included around 300-500 questions. Depending on the subject's answers there could be a different order and number of questions. The wording was also not rigidly fixed, but could be adapted to e.g. the subject's level of education. In the interview, it was assumed that participants had tried different kinds of sexual acts, until explicitly negated.Haeberle, E. J. (1993) “Alfred C. Kinsey als Homosexualitätsforscher.” Humboldt-Universität, Archiv für Sexualwissenschaft, Berlin https://web.archive.org/web/20101005022249/http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/DEUTSCH/kinsey.htm, 23.8.2016
Evaluation
The Kinsey Reports and the developed scale had a big impact on the perception of human sexuality in general and homosexuality and bisexuality in particular. Before Kinsey, sexual orientation was conceptualized as only three categories: homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual, and homosexual contacts were regarded as rather rare. In his reports Kinsey showed the big variance in sexual orientation in the American population and claimed that homosexual encounters and fantasies were much more common than previously believed.
However, the Kinsey scale also has some shortcomings. The assessment involves the subjective rating of the interviewer. This can have various consequences. Depending on the behaviour and reactions of the interviewer, subjects may or not be willing to disclose their full sexual history. It is also the interviewer who has to define whether the subjects gave honest answers or when to ask further questions. A small number of trained researchers were able to get an insight into sexual behaviour in the American population using the scale, but comparing different studies using the Kinsey scale becomes difficult. Sell finds three shortcomings of the Kinsey scale:
A single number represents the multidimensional phenomenon of sexual orientation Individuals with very different sexual histories and frequencies of sexual contact with the same or opposite sex would be classified with the same number Homosexuality and heterosexuality are conceptualized as two ends of the same spectrum. Sell argues to think of both as two different dimensions.
Kinsey acknowledged that sexual orientation is more than sexual attraction or behaviour alone. By evaluating sexual behaviour and fantasy, his scale already took into account more than one dimension, although combined to a single measure, but did not take into account other aspects such as varying sexual orientation during life or emotional preference.
Hansen and CharlesHansen, C. E., Evans, A. (1985) "Bisexuality reconsidered: An idea in pursuit of a definition." Journal of Homosexuality, 11.1–2: 1–6. criticized that while the scale is successful in categorizing people at both ends of the continuum (exclusively homosexual/heterosexual) its categorization of bisexuals is driven by a negative definition of bisexuality. Bisexuality should be considered a discrete entity not an intermediate step between homosexuality and heterosexuality.
Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG)
The Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG) was proposed by Fritz Klein as an alternative to the Kinsey Scale. It was first explained in Forum magazine, in which Klein described the scale and asked readers to fill out the given grid and send him their answers.
It was designed as a further development of the Kinsey Scale. It does not yield one number as in the Kinsey scale but 21, three different numbers (representing past, present and ideal) for each of the seven variables assessed
(A) Sexual Attraction (B) Sexual Behaviour (C) Sexual Fantasies (D) Emotional Preference (E) Social Preference (F) Self Identification (G) Heterosexual-/Gay Lifestyle
Testing method Participants are asked to rate themselves regarding these seven variables, giving three numbers for each to rate past, present and ideal.
Variable Questions past present (the past year) ideal A To whom are you sexually attracted? B With whom have you had sex? C About whom are your sexual fantasies? D Who do you feel more drawn to or close to emotionally? E Which gender do you socialize with? F In which community do you like to spend your time? In which do you feel most comfortable? G How do you label or identify yourself?
For questions A–E the numbers corresponded to:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 other sex only other sex mostly other sex somewhat more both sexes equally same sex somewhat more same sex mostly same sex only
For questions F and G the numbers corresponded to: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 heterosexual only heterosexual mostly heterosexual somewhat more heterosexual/homosexual equally homosexual somewhat more homosexual mostly homosexual only
Evaluation The KSOG adds more dimensions to the Kinsey scale and is a more fine-grained measure. It also takes into account changes in all seven variables over time. Due to its standardized written form, studies using the KSOG are less dependent on the experimenter and more easily comparable.
Weinrich et al. performed a factor analysis of KSOG scores and noted that one factor loaded substantially on all 21 scores. It might therefore be legitimate to use a scale with fewer dimensions while still accurately measuring sexual orientations.
Ratings in the KSOG are based on the self-assessment of the subjects. If there is a different interpretation of the questions, this will influence the subject's response. Lovelock reported such a confusion regarding emotional preference since Klein made no distinction between love and friendship.
Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation (SASO)
The Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation proposed by Randall L. Sell is an attempt to improve on the Kinsey scale by addressing three main concerns about the latter scale:
measuring multiple attributes (sexual attraction, sexual orientation identity and sexual behaviour) separately reporting the extent of sexual attraction, orientation identity and behavior assessing homosexuality and heterosexuality separately
The Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation is designed to achieve a more detailed account of sexual orientation which may be more suitable to the specific nature of research.
Testing method
The Sell Assessment contains 6 matching pairs of questions, three evaluating sexual attractions, two evaluating sexual contacts and one evaluating sexual identity. The pairs consist each of one question assessing homosexuality and one question assessing heterosexuality. All of those questions and answers provide a profile of a subject's sexual orientation. To only access certain parts of this profile one of the four sets of summaries of the Sell Assessment may be used.
Summaries
Homosexuality and heterosexuality summary To create a summary of the Sell Assessment the following standardized responses are assigned to each question: “not at all homosexual”, “slightly homosexual”, “moderately homosexual”, “very homosexual”. As a second step, the questions regarding sexual attraction and sexual contact are summarized to one value by taking the highest score from each set of questions. Finally, the summary results in a single measure for sexual attraction, sexual contact and sexual identity regarding homosexuality. The same procedure is then performed to assess the heterosexuality measures.
Bisexuality and asexuality summary Taking into account the interactions of the six question pairs assessing homosexuality and heterosexuality, a subject's bisexuality and asexuality can be measured.