A Sexual Orientation Worksheet
by Ben Roe
If you want to explore your own sexual orientation, here is a simple research instrument that was used by Fritz Klein and others. It is a refinement of the Kinsey Scale which ranked behavior and "psychologic reactions" on a scale from 0 to 6, with 0 being exclusively heterosexual, 6 being exclusively homosexual, and 3 being equally homosexual/heterosexual.[1]
Klein wanted to test his idea that sexual orientation was a "dynamic, multi-variable process," so he developed the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. He thought that an individual's sexual orientation was composed of sexual and non-sexual variables which differed over time.[2] There are three variables which directly describe the sexual self (attraction, fantasy, and behavior), three which describe aspects considered crucial to the composition of sexual orientation (emotional preference, social preference, and heterosexual or homosexual lifestyle), and also the variable of self-identification.[3]
This form can be used privately for your own reflection or in a sharing group, or in less personal educational settings. You may make a copy of the Grid with the scales and explanatory text and then fill it out. Following the presentation of the instrument is a series of things to think about or explore in a group.
Published as “Test Your ‘Bi-Q’: A Sexual Orientation Worksheet,” Open Hands, 1998.