Caitlain's Corner

Sex Education

Kinsean Theory

Alfred Kinsey was one of the first researchers to openly study human sexuality. Beginning in the late 1930s at Indiana State University, he conducted a wide range of research about a variety of topics related to the matter, and published several important books on the subject. Some of his most influential work was directed at the subject of sexual orientation. This article is not an examination or treatise on the subject of bisexuality or homo/heterosexuality, but is merely a summary of Kinsey's research and theories on the subject. Kinsey's theory serves as a relatively simple platform against which to discuss the subject of bisexuality within the context of sexual orientation in general.

The Meaning of "Bisexuality"

What exactly does the term "bisexual" mean? There are two general lines of thought for this. One is that someone has to be capable of forming emotional relationships with either sex. In this interpretation, the fact that one can have sex with either sex means nothing if there is no capacity for an actual "relationship." This philosophy neglects the ability to have sex with members of either gender, however, and is therefore flawed because it neglects an entire component of someone's sexual identity.

The more common lay description of a bisexual is "anyone who has, could/can have or has had sex with people of both genders." This reflects the understanding that a person's sexuality is defined, at its core, by the very nature of how their sexuality manifests itself. If you can have sex with people of both sexes, you are, by definition, bisexual. Someone who believes they can, or is curious as to what it would be like to have sex with someone of the same sex (and has a general proclivity for sex with members of the opposite sex) are said to be "bi-curious." Once acted upon, a bi-curious person will be able to ascertain whether or not they are truly bisexual.

Bisexuality as defined by Kinsey

Kinsey collected detailed sexual histories of thousands of people in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Upon evaluating these histories, he found that an astonishing number of males and females had sexual practices that defied what was perceived as the "norm." This included the fact that the practice of homosexuality was much more widespread than anyone had imagined at that point in time.

Kinsey's research demonstrated to him that a minority of the population was exclusively heterosexual or homosexual, and that the vast majority were bisexual to one extent or the other (a philosophy that was originally espoused by Sigmund Freud to a great extent, though for a different set of reasons.) Kinsey defined bisexuality as a measure of a number of variables that might influence sexual orientation: sexual attractions, fantasies, behaviors, emotions, and self-identification among others. For instance, if you found some people of the same sex as you "attractive" or "good looking" you were not exclusively heterosexual as he saw it. If you understand this concept, then you can see why so few people can be said to be "exclusively" of one orientation or the other, and why the numbers of such people are relatively small in Kinsey's eyes.

Kinsey also believed that an individual's sexual orientation exists along a continuum as they move through time. For example, someone may feel that they are exclusively heterosexual for a period of time, and find themselves in a set of circumstances next year that leads them to find someone of the same sex attractive in such as manner that it elicits a sexual response to one degree or another. At that moment, according to Kinsey, the person loses their "heterosexual exclusively" identity, and becomes bisexual to an extent. The person may or may not elect to act upon those feelings, but that has no relevance to their actual position on the continuum.

My personal experience has shown that this is very demonstrable with females. I have been able to convince women who've never given a prior thought to having a sexual relationship with another woman to actually have sex with another woman. Another good example of this at work is the fact that many males will marry and raise a family, only to "discover" their homosexuality later in life. Many of the people who find themselves in this situation report that they never had any conscious thoughts of "being gay" in their younger years. This would seem to indicate that Kinsey's continuum theory has some validity as well.

Methodology Problems

Kinsey's findings relative to the prevalence of homosexuality in the U. S. population are considered to be skewed by many people today. Rather than using a random sample of subjects for his data collection, he used prisoners and volunteers, for example. Many researchers believe that those who volunteer for such studies are more inclined to have a wider variety of sexual experiences and may tend to exaggerate or inflate responses based on what they believe the researchers want to hear. Despite this, his theories have not been disproven (and, indeed, have been supported by other research), and are generally considered valid even though the methods used to derive them may have been flawed.

The Kinsey Scale

Alfred Kinsey developed his famous "Kinsey scale" as a result of his research to characterize a person's sexual preference. It basically suggests that most people fall somewhere between 0 (totally heterosexual) and 6 (totally homosexual) on a sexual preference continuum. What Kinsey suggested in designing this scale, was that "heterosexual" and "homosexual" are not opposites, but rather two possible positions along a continuum of sexual desire. One might be a 2 on the scale (preferring hetero sex, but occasionally enjoying homo sex), or a 4 (tending toward homo, but really liking both), or any other number between 0 and 6 at any given point in time. And, further, that one's position along the continuum was subject to change, based on a variety of different factors.


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

Kinsey's Theory vs. Predetermined Orientation

Many people believe that Kinsey's theory conflicts with the notion that sexual orientation is biologically determined, or that, at a minimum, calls into question the validity of such an argument. If you assume that what is encoded in your DNA is the sole determinant of your sexual orientation, then there obviously is some conflict between the two theories. Most researchers today, however, believe that sexual orientation is derived from a variety of factors, including genetics, environmental influences (from the family, peers, society, etc.), and other biological phenomena (hormonal shifts, etc.). Since genetics would be the only hard-coded variant present, then, the two philosophies are not incongruent with one another. Kinsey himself believed that there was no evidence of a genetic predisposition towards homo or heterosexuality.

Expansion of Kinsey's Theory

In 1978, psychologist Fritz Klein expanded on Kinsey's theory somewhat. Without going into too much detail, he basically restated the theory and posited that true bisexuality was impossible to quantify in contemporary society. This is basically the same idea that Kinsey had regarding the fact that people change sexual identities across time, and expanded the determinants used to identify one's sexual orientation - it was an ongoing, dynamic process.

Klein also developed the concept of "sequential bisexuality," or the concept that bisexuals can be monogamously attached to one gender at a time. This seems to conflict with the basic assumption about bisexuals in that the stereotypical bisexual is one that engages in sexual activity with people of both sexes in parallel. Though that may happen, that is not a common occurrence.

Bisexuality gets associated with non-monogamy and group sex because it is difficult to imagine a purely bisexual act that involves only two people. Two guys together, even if they are bisexual, engage in "homosexual sex." Likewise, a bisexual man and woman together engage in "heterosexual sex." Bisexuality, which is so hard to imagine within the terms of a standard one-on-one sexual encounter, comes to represent and be represented as "deviant" in the eyes of many who do not fully understand the concepts involved.

There remains a great deal of conflict about sexual orientation in general, and this is no different with the subject of bisexuality. Kinsey's theories are accepted by most sexuality researchers, though not all of them. Sexuality is just too complex of a subject to be reduced to a one or two sentence characterization. With that in mind, it should not be surprising that a subject as complex as bisexuality would be hard to define as well.

What does this mean for me?

Many adolescents (and adults as well) go through stages where they question their sexual orientation. This is a perfectly normal part of growing up, and can cause a great deal of anxiety because they don't want to be seen as "different." For many, they will come quickly to the realization that they are either gay or heterosexual. For others, however, not only will they take longer to understand their sexual orientation, they may never find themselves in a place where they can strictly define their sexual orientation. Kinsey's theory helps you understand that what you're experiencing is not at all uncommon, and, in fact, may be much more "normal" than you might imagine.

Given the information above, you can begin to see that it is hard even for scientists to fully understand the nature of sexual orientation. It should come as no surprise then, that individuals would have trouble rectifying all of the possibilities within their own minds about what they're going through.

Though it may be hard to do, try to resist the urge to label yourself as gay, straight, or bisexual and learn to enjoy your sexuality in whatever manner it comes to you. After all, the concept of "sexuality" is a social construct and nothing more. Otherwise, you are just setting yourself up to be conflicted unnecessarily, since there is literally nothing you can do about how you feel.