Skip to main content
Log in

Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation: A Review

  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

How to define and identify sexual orientations for the purpose of constructing representative samples of homosexuals, bisexuals, and heterosexuals is unclear and confusing to researchers. Different definitions and measures have been proposed and used to develop samples since the 1860s when sexual orientations first gained widespread research interest. Unfortunately, the definitions and measurement tools used since men result in the selection of divergent and incomparable samples. If advances in the understanding of sexual orientations are to be made, it is critical that definitions and measures of sexual orientation be standardized. This paper reviews and critiques definitions and measures of sexual orientation mat have been proposed and used by researchers over the past century. This review is intended to further our understanding of this subject and to encourage researchers to be critical of how they classify subjects based upon sexual orientation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Anomaly. (1948). The Invert and His Social Adjustment: To which is Added a Sequel, Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, London.

  • Beach, F. (1950). Comments on the second dialogue in Corydon. In Gide, A., Corydon, Farrar, Straus, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bem, S. L. (1981). Bem Sex-Role Inventory' Professional Manual, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkey, B. R., Perelman-Hall, T., and Kurdek, L. A. (1990). The multidimensional scale of sexuality. J. Homosex. 19(4): 67–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, G. A. (1882). A case of perverted sexual instinct (contrare sexualempfindung). J. Insanity 39: 22–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, J. (1980). Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brett, P., Wood, E., and Thomas, G. C. (1994). Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullough, V. (1990). The Kinsey Scale in historical perspective. In McWhirter, D. P., Sanders, S. A., and Reinisch, J. M. (eds.), Homosexuality/Heterosexuality: Concepts of Sexual Orientation, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullough, V. (1994). Introduction. In The Riddle of Man-Manly Love, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, E. (1894). Homogenic Love and Its Place in a Free Society, Labour Press, Manchester, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, E. (1908). The Intermediate Sex, Allen and Unwin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chauncey, G. (1994). Gay New York: Gender Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940, HarperCollins, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, E. (1990). Toward a synthetic understanding of sexual orientation. In McWhirter, D. P., Sanders, S. A., and Reinisch, J. M. (eds.), Homosexuality/Heterosexuality: Concepts of Sexual Orientation, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cory, D. W. (1951). The Homosexual in America, Greenberg, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, M. (1993). Homosexuality and Bisexuality in Different Populations. Arch. Sex. Behav. 22: 291–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, H. (1942). Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Random House, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, H., and Symonds J. A. (1896). Sexual Inversion, Wilson and Macmillan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinberg, D. B. (1994). Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone, Viking, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forel, A. (1924). The Sexual Question: A Scientific, Psychological, Hygienic and Sociological Study, Physicians and Surgeons Book Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francoeur, R. T., Perper, T., and Scherzer, N. A. (eds). (1991). A Descriptive Dictionary and Atlas of Sexology, Greenwood Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, J. (ed.). (1994). Queering the Renaissance, Duke University Press, Durham, NC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonsiorek, J. C., and Weinrich, J. D. (1991). The definition and scope of sexual orientation. In Homosexuality: Research Implications for Public Policy, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, G. W. (1948). Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns, Paul B. Hoeber, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, G. W. (1955). All the Sexes: A Study of Masculinity and Femininity, Rinehart, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfeld, M. (1914). Die Homosexualitat des Mannes und des Weibes, Louis Marcus, Berlin, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, N. (1992). Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the United States, Meridian, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., and Martin, C. E. (1948). Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E., and Gebhard, P. H. (1953). Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, F., Sepekoff, B., and Wolf, T. J. (1985). Sexual orientation: A multi-variable dynamic process. J. Homosex. 11: 35–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraft-Ebing, R. V. (1886). Psychopathia Sexualis: Eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie, Enke, Stuttgart, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. M. (1993). Doing Research on Sensitive Topics, Sage, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Legman, G. (1941). The language of homosexuality: An American glossary. In Henry, G. W., Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns, Paul B. Hoeber, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeVay, S. (1993). The Sexual Brain, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmor, J. (1980). Overview: The multiple roots of homosexual behavior. In Marmor, J. (ed.), Homosexual Sexual Behavior: A Modern Reappraisal, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, W. H., and Johnson, V. E. (1979). Homosexuality in Perspective, Little, Brown, Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, W. H., Johnson, V. E., and Kolodny, R. C. (1988). Human Sexuality: Third Edition, Scott, Foresman, Glenview, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayne, X. (1908). The Intersexes: A History of Similsexualism as a Problem in Social Life, Privately printed, Paris.

  • Mercer, J. D. (1959). They Walk in Shadow: A Study of Sexual Variations with Emphasis on the Ambisexual and Homosexual Components and Our Contemporary Sex Laws, Comet Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moll, A. (1891). Die Kontrare Geschlechtsempfindung, Fischer's Medicin, Berlin, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato (1993). The Symposium and The Phaedrus, State of New York Press, Albany, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, L. A. F. (1933). Strange Loves: A Study in Sexual Abnormalities, Robert Dodsely, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, V. (ed.). (1936). Encyclopedia Sexualis. Dingwall-Rock, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sambrooks, J. E., and MacCulloch, M. J. (1973). A modification of the Sexual Orientation Method and automated technique for presentation and scoring. Brit. J. Social Clin. Psychol. 12: 163–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sell, R. L. (submitted for publication). The validity and reliability of the Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation.

  • Sell, R. L., and Petrulio, C. (1995). Sampling homosexuals, bisexuals, gays and lesbians for public health research: A review of the literature from 1990–1992. J. Homosex. 30: 31–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, J. C., and Ferris, G. N. (1883). Perverted sexual instinct. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 10: 185–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shively, M. G., Jones, C., and DeCecco, J. P. (1985). Research on sexual orientation: Definitions and methods. In DeCecco, J. P., and Shively, M. G. (eds.), Origins of Sexuality and Homosexuality, Harrington Park Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shively, M. G., and DeCecco, J. P. (1977). Components of sexual identity. J. Homosexuality 3: 41–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Signorle, M. (1993). Queer in America, Random House, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stedman's Medical Dictionary. (1982). Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD.

  • Storms, M. D. (1980). Theories of sexual orientation. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 38: 783–792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streiner, D. L., and Norman, G. R. (1989). Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide to Their Development and Use, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sudman, S. (1976). Applied Sampling, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Symonds, J. A. (1883). A Problem in Greek Ethics, Privately Printed, London.

  • Symonds, J. A. (1891). A Problem in Modern Ethics, Privately Printed, London.

  • Tentler, T. N. (1977). Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrichs, K. H. (1994). The Riddle of Man-Manly Love, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, M. S., Williams, C. J., and Pryor, D. W. (1994). Dual Attraction, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinrich, J. D. (1994). Homosexuality. In Bullough, V. L., and Bullough, B. (eds.), Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, Garland, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinrich, J. D. (1990). The Kinsey Scale in biology, with a note on Kinsey as a biologist. In McWhirter, D. P., Sanders, S. A., and Reinisch, J. M. (eds.), Homosexuality,: Concepts of Sexual Orientation, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinrich, J. D., Snyder, P. J., Pillard, R. C., Grant, I., Jacobson, D. L., Robinson, S. R., and McCutchan, J. A. (1993). A factor analysis of the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid in two disparate samples. Arch. Sex. Behav. 22: 157–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, D. J. (1977). Homosexuality Re-examined, Gerald Duckworth, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westphal, K. (1869). Die Kontrare Sexualempfindung: Symptom eines neuropathologischen (psychopathischen) Zustandes. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkrank. 2: 73–108.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sell, R.L. Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation: A Review. Arch Sex Behav 26, 643–658 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024528427013

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024528427013

Navigation