curious about bisexuality is not the same as bi-curious
I wonder about the idea "there are no true bisexuals." I have seen this occasionally in my studies of homosexuality.* Sexuality, like everything humans experience, exists on a sliding scale. No man is purely Libertarian; no two green crayons exactly alike.
Any man can be rest anywhere between the poles of masculine and feminine or promiscuous and celibate. Even biological distinctions such as male and female can vary in very obvious ways.
The same is true of sexual attraction. Some like females more than males and some like both.
Someone out there might want to know where I place on the Kinsey Scale. So would I.
Over the years the Kinsey Scale has evolved into a sort of self-applied metric for sexual attraction. Some use it to describe behavior or mannerisms. Others use it as the author intended: to establish the ratio of gay:straight sexual encounters. Most prefer to use the Kinsey Scale to describe how attracted one is to other men and/or women.
I'll use the more popular version of the Kinsey Scale and place myself on the continuum. "Zero" meaning “only attracted to females” and "Six" meaning "only attracted to males.” I'll justify my placement with my personal feelings and attractions. So here it goes:
I am a Six.
(Unless Seven has become available.)
*Dr. Ruth believes this. I like to think of Dr. Ruth as the mother with the world's most embarrassed children.
+++
good tune
http://djpretzel.web.aplus.net/songs/Castlevania_2_DarkMadnessResurrection_OC_ReMix.mp3
About Me
- playasinmar
- Politically minded and casually dressed, I weathered the storms of adolescent stupidity mostly unscathed. I now seek a better understanding of who and why I am.
18 comments:
I love your humor. Can you please clone yourself?
My partner was actually sexually active with girls when he was in high school, but has had no interest in women since then. So I think technically on the Kinsey scale he is a 5.
I have never been sexual with a woman, and never even been interested in or fantasized about women in any way. When I see pictures of naked women, I never get aroused, not even a tiny, itsy bitsy little bit. Porn doesn't turn me on unless there's a guy in the picture.
When I turned 16 and was finally allowed to date, I didn't go on dates... No interest. The first date I went on was when I was 18, and the girl asked me. She always initiated everything. The most sexual thing we ever did was hold hands. We NEVER kissed until I gave her a peck after our graduation ceremony at her insistence.
Guys, on the other hand...
I made it to age 24 a complete virgin. I thought I must be some kind of sexual invalid. But the first time I went on a date with a guy, nobody needed to tell me what to do. I just knew.
I think I'm a 6.
I will proudly fess up, I am the cause of this post, and now that the world knows you're a six ... the world knows you're a six.
Does that mean that when we hang out our gayness combines and we're like a 10 or something? (like in constructive interference?) or are we a 2?
Clone myself? Why would I need to clone myself?
[ponders]
Oh, I get it. Yeah, that could work.
Playasinmar
The original Kinsey or HH Scale was based half on behavior and half on what they called psychosexual reactions (things like fantasy and dreams). In the original 1948 book on males, they say this...
"It will be observed that the rating an individual receives has a dual basis. It takes into account his overt sexual experience and/or his psychosexual reactions. In the majority of instances the two aspects of the history parallel, but sometimes they are not in accord. In the latter case, the rating of an individual must be based upon an evaluation of the relative importance of the overt and the psychic in his history."
I think for some who are in MOMs the physical experience in the marriage would over time make the rating appear to be close to exclusively heterosexual (zero) even if the fantasy and dreams never change, but in a case like that the psychic history would probably be given more importance.
I think John is correct that Goran would probably have been rated a 5 by the original Kinsey researchers.
I think this post is just a feeble attempt to get out of discussing pee saber battles.
The Kinsey scale is not perfect. In my view, it's biggest value is illustrating that homosexuality is not black and white (where you're either gay or not gay).
In my mind, it also explains why estimating the percentage of the population that is gay results in such a big range (from less than 1% to 10% or more) - it depends on what you consider a homosexual.
btw, I figure that since I am able to be intimate with a woman (i.e. my wife) when pressed then I must be a 5 (maybe a 5.5, if fractional values are allowed). I think a person who is a true 6 on the Kinsey scale would be totally grossed out at the mere thought of being intimate with a woman and would not be able to do it.
A friend of mine theorizes that actually there are no true heterosexuals or homosexuals. Rather, everyone has the potential to sexualize anyone and anything, but over the course of our lives we tend to develop a sexuality in one direction or another. It's an interesting theory and I don't know that I disagree with it, even though I don't know of any scientific evidence to support it. It would explain, at least, why mass homosexuality was possible in ancient Greece while it appears to account for only 5% of the population today.
Silly Kinsey scale. ^_^
The Kinsey scale is not the only attempt to measure sexuality. There is also the Klein sexual orientation grid. Similar to the Kinsey scale, but adds a time dimension. And we have the Storms Sexuality Axis, the Multidimensional Scale of Sexuality, the Limoncelli Scale of Sexuality, and probably others.
Here is a link which briefly describes each of these and even has some simple quizzes you can take.
I'm about a 3 on the Klein scale; although, I think it is skewed due to the fact that I've never had gay sex and I live as a heterosexual. But, with the Multidimensional Scale of Sexuality, I am a "homosexual".
Check out the Kinsey Sicks.
Did anybody see the movie "Kinsey," starring Liam Neeson as Alfred Kinsey? (I found it kind of depressing.)
Abelard - thanks for pointing out the site with the quizzes. It just so happens, a friend of mine was asking about something just like that.
In this quick and dirty rating, it turns out I'm a 5.33 on the Klein grid. On that scale I think it would be pretty hard to be a 6, as you would have to have identified as gay your whole life and never have had any significant emotional or social connection to members of the opposite sex.
Thanks for the tests, Abelard.
I ranked over a 5 on the Klein test as I've never had many close female relationships.
And I never did see Kinsey. Not suprising considering I usually only see movies with car chases, pirates, or Spiderman in them.
I usually only see movies with car chases, pirates, or Spiderman in them.
That's so ... straight ... of you. Let me guess, you don't get off going to Ikea either ...
What about aliens and other super hero's? Or orcs and elves?
I'm equal opportunity when it comes to super heroes and who dosen't like elves and orcs?
Everything at IKEA looks like it was stolen friom my great-grandmother's house and I'm not into retro stuff.
Though the cafeteria does make the trip worth it. Those amazing Sweedish meatballs and cream sauce... are... amazing... DANGIT!
I can recomment J. Gathorne-Hardy's biography of Kinsey. It's quite an interesting read.
Another label, that's all this is. Does it really help us understand ourselves any better or cope any better?
Okay, so I'm probably a four or five, while at times I have no sexual attraction at all to either or anything. It's somewhat sad when porn doesn't do it for you anymore. And I don't even look at porn very often. It mostly just offends me.
I have a friend I hang out with who can't control himself when it comes to women. He freely comments to me on every woman. He's hopeless. He's had three marriages, two of which he cheated on them. Needless to say, his attraction to women is starting to rub off on me a little. I never knew "how" to look at a woman that way.
Those who go through life refusing to see labels make the strangest purchases at the supermarket.
lol
playasinmar, you make me laugh!
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