The Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Kinsey Scale

[Terminator]

0- Exclusively heterosexual with no homosexual
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

What is "The Kinsey Scale?"

The Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, sometimes referred to as the “Kinsey Scale,” was developed by Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues Wardell Pomeroy and Clyde Martin in 1948, in order to account for research findings that showed people did not fit into neat and exclusive heterosexual or homosexual categories.
Interviewing people about their sexual histories, the Kinsey team found that, for many people, sexual behavior, thoughts and feelings towards the same or opposite sex was not always consistent across time. Though the majority of men and women reported being exclusively heterosexual, and a percentage reported exclusively homosexual behavior and attractions, many individuals disclosed behaviors or thoughts somewhere in between.
As Kinsey writes in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948):

“Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats…The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects."

The authors add in Sexual Behavior of the Human Female (1953):

“It is a characteristic of the human mind that tries to dichotomize in its classification of phenomena….Sexual behavior is either normal or abnormal, socially acceptable or unacceptable, heterosexual or homosexual; and many persons do not want to believe that there are gradations in these matters from one to the other extreme.”

Kinsey also reported:

“While emphasizing the continuity of the gradations between exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual histories, it has seemed desirable to develop some sort of classification which could be based on the relative amounts of heterosexual and homosexual experience or response in each history... An individual may be assigned a position on this scale, for each period in his life.... A seven-point scale comes nearer to showing the many gradations that actually exist.” (pp. 639, 656).

How do I take the test?

There is no ‘test.’ The scale is purely a method of self-evaluation based on your individual experience, and the rating you choose may change over time.
The scale ranges from 0, for those who would identify themselves as exclusively heterosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with their same sex, to 6, for those who would identify themselves as exclusively homosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with those of the opposite sex, and 1-5 for those who would identify themselves with varying levels of desire or sexual activity with either sex.

Are there other scales or tests?
The Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, developed by Fritz Klein, expands on Kinsey's scale with 7 variables and 3 situations in time: past, present and ideal.

[ChesCopPodz]

I voted partially. The only two parts I would qualify are numbers 1 and 5. From my friends in high school and college who were gay (conversation like this doesn't come up much as an adult), girls are more likely to be number 1 than guys, and guys are more likely to be number 5 than girls.

Basically straight girls are more likely to have a homosexual incident than straight guys. And a gay guy is more likely to have a heterosexual hook up than a gay girl is.

Of course I have absolutely no data to confirm the above theory, just conversations with gay and lesbian friends.

[So Fla Cop]

You can drive trucks all your life and no one will call you a truck driver...but suck one cock...and...
But hey...if it works for you.

[irishmick]

I voted "No", mostly because for a 'scale' to have scientific validity, there has to be some sort of science to it.

[MacLean]

I voted "No", mostly because for a 'scale' to have scientific validity, there has to be some sort of science to it.

Kinsey was a scientist.

[irishmick]

Kinsey was a scientist.

Well, that may be. But just having an individual determine where they lie on the scale isn't exactly accurate if they're just looking at the scale and saying "Eh, I think I fall here".

[Jks9199]

Kinsey was a scientist.

Well, that may be. But just having an individual determine where they lie on the scale isn't exactly accurate if they're just looking at the scale and saying "Eh, I think I fall here".

And Kinsey's "science" has been called into question... Pretty heavily.

[MacLean]

Oh it might be bad science, but he did quite a bit of useful research - and the institute still does.

[IndianaFuzz]

I voted partially, just because I think there are people at all kinds of places on that scale. But I think if you graphed it, it would look more like an upside down bell curve. I think the vast majority of people are near the ends of the scales. But there are some people who truly are more in the middle. I just think that group is far less in numbers. Two arguments that I will never buy into are that either all people are some degree of bi, or that no one is really bi.