Basic Types of Sexual  Behavior

3. Homosexual Intercourse

The Kinsey Scale

In their two monumental studies on human sexual behavior, Alfred C. Kinsey and his associates used a very practical method of clarifying the matter. They devised a seven-point rating scale (with categories ranging from 0 to 6) which measured the balance of heterosexual and homosexual experiences in the population as a whole. At the one end of this scale (in category 0), they placed those whose experiences were exclusively heterosexual, and at the other end (in category 6) they placed those whose experiences were exclusively homosexual. Between these two extremes were those who, in the course of their lives, had both heterosexual and homosexual experiences in various degrees (categories 1-5). Kinsey’s basic findings are summarized in this scale:

Source: Kinsey et al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, (1948) p. 638.