Sexuality Spectrum

The sexuality spectrum is the idea that sexual orientation is not a strict binary of straight or gay but a continuum with many points in between. Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues introduced one of the first formal versions in the late 1940s and 1950s with the Kinsey Scale, a seven-point scale running from zero (exclusively heterosexual) through three (equally attracted to both) to six (exclusively homosexual), plus an X for people reporting no sexual attraction. Kinsey's research suggested most people fell somewhere between the poles. Modern models go further, recognizing that attraction to different genders can vary independently and adding orientations such as bisexuality, pansexuality, asexuality, and demisexuality that a single line cannot capture.