Degrees of Gay

For whatever reason, I am reminded today of the first time I heard about the Kinsey scale of sexual orientation sitting in a psychology class in the 4th floor of the main building of my university. I remember looking at the chart with a little bit of wonderment and confusion at the possibility that, according to Kinsey, very few people are completely straight or completely gay, and that the majority of us fall somewhere in the middle in a realm known as bisexuality.

For those of you who don't know, Kinsey was a professor at the University of Indiana who gathered massive amounts of data and conducted extensive research in the realm of sex and sexuality. The movie of the same name offers a glimpse into the kind of life and the work that he did if you would happen to be so interested. In any case, the scale places people in a range of possible sexualities from 0 to 6 as follows:

0-exclusively heterosexual
1-mostly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual
2-more than incidentally homosexual
3-equally hetero and homosexual
4.....well, you get the idea going down to
6- exclusively homosexual, with the addition of one last category:
X-asexual.

Well, I feel sorry for the X's (although, in the long run, that might actually be easier on the emotional heart), but what I find most interesting is that there are so many possibilities. It almost seems to make the terms 'straight' and 'gay' out to be extremely limiting and therefore useless in the description of people beyond those falling into the 0 and 6 categories. It almost lends to the argument of abolishing the labeling of people in this way altogether, as it would seem that the majority of us are in fact bisexual to some degree or another. It is almost an argument towards how alike we are versus how different, and, therefore, all lumped into one big clump known as humanity. We are not this or that, we are simply human.

Of course, things are never quite that easy or clear cut; but it does bridge the gap and create a rather large gray area between 'straight' and 'gay.' What it says to me, though, is that it doesn't really matter where you fit on the scale, whether you choose a man or woman to partner yourself with. It's all part of the same spectrum. Although, I must say that I cannot imagine myself with a woman, and I am sure there are many who could not imagine themselves going after a sex different than what they are currently after; but it does leave a tiny pinpoint of wonder in the brain, nonetheless. I have many 'gay' friends who dated women before they finally decided on men, two of them were even engaged to women at one point. I know many 'straight' men and women who have at least thought about experimenting with the idea of a same sex partnership. It would seem that it is only natural if you look to Kinsey. But, then, I guess it is only natural for a human to be just that: a human.