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Sexuality & Culture (2012) 16:241262
DOI 10.1007/s12119-011-9122-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
Donna J. Drucker
Published online: 1 December 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Alfred Kinseys 06 (heterosexualityhomosexuality) scale, rst published in 1948, has become a method for Internet users to mark and to discuss their sexuality with others in forums and through quizzes. This article rst analyzes the historical use and development of the scale and shows its built-in exibility for individuals seeking tools for contemplating their sexual identities beyond the heterosexual-bisexual-homosexual identity triad. There is no place on the scale that is more normal than another; all placements have equal socio-cultural weight. This article then examines 29 quizzes and online forums in different languages that use a scale or a version of it and their user comments. Many users who do not feel that the present-day sexual identity triad adequately represents their sexual self-perception discover afrmation and solidarity in nding a place on the scale in either a whole-number or decimal form. The elasticity of placement on the scaleone can perceive ones place on it differently at will over timeis particularly useful and applicable in a postmodern, online environment in which people are open to exploring sexual identities and to nding a precise labeling that ts them.
Keywords Alfred Kinsey Sexuality Scale Internet
If it is anything, sexuality is a potentiality, or in Deleuzian terms, a becoming. Steven Angelides, A History of Bisexuality, 2001, p. 206. Emphasis in original.
Wow. Way to go Kinsey. Sexuality fully is a continuum ,Dudes, forum posting on Govteen: Global Community, October 16, 2010 (Govteen: Global Community 2010).
D. J. Drucker (&)
Department of History, Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, USAe-mail: [email protected]
Marking Sexuality from 06: The Kinsey Scale in Online Culture
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242 D. J. Drucker
References to the Kinsey scale are abundant in online culture. The Internet is full of explanations of Alfred Kinseys 06 (heterosexualityhomosexuality) scale in lay language, forums where individuals asynchronously discuss the scale, and quizzes that individuals can use to place themselves on the scale or a modied version of it. More than 60 years after the scale was rst published in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948), the 06 scale remains a potent and...