Sexual Orientation Issue in Today’s Society

Sexual orientation has been and will continue to always be a controversial topic in today’s society. Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted to (Introduction to Sociology). There are known to be a few outcomes of sexual orientation but the most common ones are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. There are two models in which determine a person’s sexual orientation. Kinsey model of sexual orientation and the Klein model of sexual orientation both display a scale that is based on Heterosexual to Homosexual.

This scale is used to describe a person’s sexual orientation based on their experience or response at a given time. A complex part of human nature is based off of behavior, identity, feelings, attraction and also relationship. Although both models are very similar, they do have their differences of course. One of the major differences between the two models is that the Kinsey model is limited to its options and is only involved in only behavior. On the other hand, the Klein model is more dynamic and multi-variable which includes feelings unlike the Kinsey model. The Kinsey model ranges from 0 to 6, while the Klein ranges from 1 to 7. The Klein model introduced the fact that the sexual priorities of a person change due to age and cannot be fixed.

At first, the concept of sexual orientation was between homosexual vs heterosexual. The term homosexual refers to sexual attraction with people of the same gender, whereas heterosexual is the attraction of people of opposite gender. Yet, Alfred Kinsley argued that sexuality is more of an endurance rather than a strict concept of gay or straight. As a matter of fact, the Kinsey group introduced the first-ever advanced heterosexuality/homosexuality rating scale (Weinrich et.al 158). The scale indicates that sexual orientation isn’t only measured as homosexuality and heterosexuality. As it was mentioned in our textbook, his 1948 work known as Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Kinsey writes, “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 (Kinsey 1948).” By taking his scale test, I got a 0, which falls under the exclusively heterosexual category. This means that I am only attracted to an opposite gender which I was not shocked by. My entire life, those were my feelings and attractions; therefore, I am not surprised that I got placed into that category which features the same feelings and attractions I have had ever since I was old enough to understand attraction of the opposite sex.

Another scale which focuses on a person’s sexual proclivities in a way more informative and detailed way is known as the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. The scale was created by Dr. Fritz Klein and was first introduced in his book called “The Bisexual Option”. As it was mentioned on an institutional website called, American Institute of Bisexuality, “For each person, it sets out the seven component variables of sexual orientation, listed as A through G down the left side. The three columns indicate three different points at which sexual orientation is assessed: the person’s past, their present, and their ideal (GenderBodyReligion)”. There are 21 resulting combinations and the person gets a scale of 1-7 which indicates their sexual orientation. For this scale I also got 1, which means I am under the “Heterosexual only” category. The reasons behind my results were not something that I was intrigued because it mirrors the Kinsey’s test perfectly. One of the main difference is that the Klein’s scale also takes into consideration about your past, present, and future. Thus, in my opinion it is uses more variables to accurately demonstrate a person’s sexual orientation or otherwise called sexual identity.

Although it can seem similar, but the terms “sex” and “gender” are very distinctive from one another. As it was mentioned in our sociology textbook, the term “sex” has to do with physical or physiological differences between males and females”. On the other side, the term “gender” involves behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male”. A person’s sex and gender do not always correspond with one another. For example, a baby boy can have male physicality but as he grows up he might identify female aspects which can have an effect on his gender identity, but not his sex. Regarding sexual orientations, a homosexual male can have the physical body and appearance of a male which means his sex is the same, but his gender changes due to a feminine aspect building up in his life. This also refers to the idea described in our textbook that the terms sex and gender are interchangeable. Of course, this also has to do with the social norms in different societies. For instance, as it was illustrated in our textbook, “in U.S. culture, it is considered feminine (or a trait of the female gender) to wear a dress or skirt. However, in many Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures, dresses or skirts (often referred to as sarongs, robes, or gowns) are considered masculine”. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem for maintaining sex and gender binaries is because of the society that we live in. Something can be normal in one society but taken and seen completely different in another. Moreover, a kilt worn by Scottish man would have been considered feminine in our society today; however, in Scotland it is not considered feminine and it is taken normally over there and is accepted and seen as unordinary over there. Thus, it is difficult and causes problems for a lot of people to maintain sex and gender binaries in society.

Whether you are bisexual, heterosexual, or homosexual; human is human. Our priorities change naturally due to the fact that we are human and we have feelings that we encounter every once in a while, but with time and age our feelings, who we identify as, our behavior and attraction all change. The reason that these rating scales are able to be accurate and visible is due to the concept of social interaction amongst the opposite gender. As accurate as these scales are, there are definitely more theoretical researches that must be completed in order to verify the sexual orientation of a person. Learning about the dynamics of sexual orientation of others and even yourself will allow you to be more diverse and appreciation the differences of sexual orientation that goes on in the world. It will aid in the understanding that no two people in the world are alike and that everyone has their own way of being unique, which is what makes them who they are. At the end of the day we are all human and what people define themselves as and who they are as a person should not matter based on sexual orientation and sexual interests.

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