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Basic Types of Sexual Behavior
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3. Homosexual Intercourse
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A Continuum of Experience
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Alfred C. Kinsey
(1894-1956) did not accept the division of people into two distinct groups - “homosexual” and “heterosexual”.
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Kinsey also drew the logical conclusion from his discoveries. In his own words:
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"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. , . . Nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex….It would encourage clearer thinking on these matters if persons were not characterized as heterosexual or homosexual, but as individuals who have had certain amounts of heterosexual experience and certain amounts of homosexual experience."
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Alfred C. Kinsey et al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) p. 639.
However, as we all know, in everyday life people do not make these scientific distinctions, but continue to speak of “gays” and “straights” as if they were clearly definable separate groups. Indeed, for various sociopolitical reasons, many “gays” also prefer to see themselves this way, Others, however, want recognition for a much wider spectrum of sexual orientations. (This whole issue is the subject of another course. Some preliminary information can be found in the paper on “bisexuality” on our web site.)
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