Sexuality isn’t black and white. It can be fluid and can change over time — or you can feel comfortable in one identity your whole life. Some are comfortable with labels, and others aren't. Most of us fall somewhere along a spectrum.
The Kinsey scale is one way to look at the possibilities. It's a scale that ranges from 0 to 6, from "exclusively heterosexual" to "exclusively homosexual."
According to the Kinsey Institute, Dr. Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues developed "the heterosexual–homosexual rating scale" — the Kinsey scale as you know it — in 1948.
The Kinsey scale clearly does not address all possible sexual identities (the "purple-red" scale of attraction is the latest way to map out the sexual spectrum), but it's still fun to think about.
The scale also is based on the assumption that there are only two valid genders. Yeah, it’s not perfect.
Here's how the Kinsey Institute lays out the scale:
Rating | Description
0 | Exclusively heterosexual
1 | Predominantly heterosexual, only 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
So, what's your number?
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