Does anyone think it can be measured? In the 50's a guy named Kinsey created the hetero-homo continuum, which classified gayness/bisexuality/straightness on a six point scale from exclusively gay, to gay with some hetero tendencies, to bi, to straight with gay tendencies, etc. IT was done to as a way of breaking commonly held beliefs that people were either just straight, just bi, or just gay with little more complexity than that.
Another researcher made a chart that measured it, and added the element of past, present and future to measuring sexual identity.
Is a continuum or chart to simplistic of an approach? Can homosexuality even be measured at all, or is this an outdated method of gender role classification? Should gender roles even be classified at all? We all recognize the fact that there are gays and lesbians who's sexual identity is closer to or further away from the commonly accepted 'norm' of gender roles, but do you think there is a way to gauge this in order to prove it exists?
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There may be, but I don't know how useful it would be. Sexuality seems to have a little ebb and flow. Kinsey's work does leave a lot of questions about his methodologies.
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Personally I believe sexuality can't be measured in a traditional sense as such but there is a broad spectrum, I wouldn't say a person can't be 100% straight or 100% gay. maybe think of it in a probability way. It's an intriguing subject but also a very complex one.
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I agree it's complex and dynamic.
I just read a personal ad from a hot gay guy. He wrote, and I quote: "And speaking of pussy, I don't believe in bisexuals. I strongly believe that bisexuality is just a phase some insecure guys go through until they have the balls to admit they're gay. So if you think you're bi, please do me a favor and don't hit me up. I haven't got the desire for a bi relationship or all the bi drama that goes with it."
I think he's mistaken on so many different levels I don't even know where to start...
But anyway, yeah, I've describe my "struggle" with the "pendulum" of my own sexuality. It DEFINITELY swings from week to week, day to day, etc. I don't think it's a stretch to imagine there are people who experience LESS amplitude in their swings on continuum or spectrum, however you wanna describe it.
But to utterly dismiss that it doesn't exist: "I don't believe in it" is pretty ignorant.
Too bad he was so hot.
 mile:
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The more I think about it, the more I feel like...it isn't so much about finding where you fit on a grid or graph, but it's how honest you are with yourself.
On the other hand, I find that my own sexual ID is constantly changing which confuses the hell out of me. from age 4-7, I was attracted to giant cartoon characters and friendly men with facial hair. From 7-14 I was mainly into giantesses, and girls. for the rest of my adolescence I was into amazon women, petite women (I know right), boys and (shamefully) pre-pubescent boys and girls (never acted out on this). From then until recently I've almost been exclusively into voyeurism and porn, mainly watching women give large men BJs. As of now (my mid twenties) I feel little sexual attraction to anyone or anything. If I were straight or gay, I would become that in an instant. Even if I thought I were a furry or a pedophile, I would stimulate myself to those urges (without acting out on them in the case of the latter). Now? I guess I would be considered asexual now?
Long story short, I think it is possible for sexual preferences to charge over time. I hope this does not offend anyone who is gay. I don't lump heterosexuality in with foot fetishes or something. There is a much more normal component of love that has little to do with sex alone. But the fact that there are people who exclusively ID themselves as bisexual, or those who feel attracted to men one day, women the next, and possibly puppets or the elderly the next day, prove that sexuality cannot be easily classified.
However, I just wonder if there is anyway to SHOW the general public just how complex sexuality actually is. The continuum is an outdated model, I admit, but is there another that shows, if anything else, that human sexuality extends beyond simply gay, straight, trans, or bi?
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I think scales like this would just create greater division and prejudices.
Do I think sexuality can be measured? Against what exactly would you measure sexuality???
We don't measure whiteness or blackness of our skin, so what try to measure sexuality...sexuality just IS.
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gfxtwin Wrote:... In the 50's a guy named Kinsey created the hetero-homo continuum ... Another researcher made a chart that measured it, and added the element of past, present and future to measuring sexual identity...
things have changed in just the last 5 years for gay issues; Kinsy's work is not relevant?
-you might consider Kinsey's work was done in the late 1940's and early 1950.
-he was not a cynically based as needed, he had a degree in nothing
-his work was based on very very small sample sizes and they were skewed
at gayspeak be careful when someone prefaces their post here "I believe" or "its my belief" because you should insert your own beliefs there.
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dfiant Wrote:I think scales like this would just create greater division and prejudices.
Do I think sexuality can be measured? Against what exactly would you measure sexuality???
We don't measure whiteness or blackness of our skin, so what try to measure sexuality...sexuality just IS.
Whoa, hang on a sec.
Just a small point of contention: DON'T we measure the darkness or lightness of our skins?
I think we do.
And to make my point I'll offer the example of an older black woman that attends my church. She grew up in Texas in the 60s. She said she often felt "different" than others in her community due to the lightness of not just her skin but also her eyes.
The lesson (I think) is that IT DOESN'T MATTER--or at least, it SHOULDN'T matter--how dark or light our skin is, or more to the point, how strictly attracted we happen to be to the opposite/same sex.
But we do measure these things even though it doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
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Hello,
Id say it is impossible to come up with exact figures because lets face it there is more to life than what it seems... People say that men with a wife and kids doesnt mean his straight however whats saying that a man with another man doesnt mean his gay???? When it comes to surveys any old joe bloggs can put whatever they like down and there is no legal way of finding out as you cant exactly go round every gay man and say right shag him and then shag her and ill see which is which... I think it all comes down to who you would like to be with in life not who you want to have sex with... For this reason id re write my statement by saying..... Its impossible to know as things change all the time
Kindest regards
zeon x
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there is a fear factor that straights over estimate the gay bi population when in actuality the numbers are so small that giving them the right to marry, laws to protect the work place etc would not effect society.
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Measuring homosexuality
