The Kinsey scale was certainly useful when it appeared because it taught the general public that not everyone is 100% heterosexual–and let those of us who aren’t know we’re not alone. It certainly opened people’s eyes to what they had previously refused to see though it was right under their noses.

I think that these days a 1 to 10 monogamy-promiscuity scale study of people at both ends of the Kinsey scale might be equally as useful. Have you noticed how often heterosexual families are portrayed as paragons of virtue in anti-gay rhetoric? My assumption is that promiscuity is what many who decry the ‘gay lifestyle’ (and I assume many of us fall into that group) are really concerned about though it also exists in the heterosexual community.

I’ve never understood why those who cry most loudly that homosexuality is a sin (these days one might almost say THE sin) are so active in standing in the way of recognizing gay/lesbian partnerships. You’d think they would rather limit the ‘sinning’ by enforcing monogamy instead of encouraging it by making monogamy difficult for gay/lesbian people.

I’ve heard some people say Kinsey’s research is inaccurate and there aren’t really “that many gay/bisexual/non-hetero people” but I’m not sure whether they’re validly critiquing it or are just looking at it with a homophobic bias.
I think the scale is helpful though – at the very least it shows that there is a spectrum of sexuality. Sexuality is probably more fluid than a rigid scale could show but it still gives you an idea.

No problem at all, Joe 🙂 I love coming here and chatting with you all.