Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation refers to the sex or gender of people who are the focus of a person's amorous or erotic desires, fantasies, and spontaneous feelings, the gender(s) toward which one is primarily "oriented". The alternative terms sexual preference and sexual inclination have similar meanings. Clinicians and those who believe sexuality is fixed early in life tend to use the former term; those believing sexuality is fluid and reflects preference and choice tend towards the latter terms.

Classification and boundaries

There is a common boundary-drawing problem (or controversy, at least) when considering how to divide a population between "heterosexual", "bisexual", and "homosexual" by behavior or orientation. The largest disagreement is probably over which criterion - identity, desire, or behavior - is most important.

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With regard to identity, common controversial topics of procedure include whether someone should be categorized as "bisexual" by behavior if they have any sexual contact with members of more than one gender, and further, whether frequency of contact with either sex is a factor, whether group sex is admissible as an instance, and whether the occurrence of orgasm, as well as its frequency in terms of total encounters, has any bearing.

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When classifying by orientation or desire, controversial topics include the breadth of attraction to both genders, what "intensity" of attraction is admissible, and whether self-reporting should be solely trusted or whether there should be any manner of "objective" measure.

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Some observers only consider the two poles (same-sex vs. opposite-sex), others set explicit but somewhat arbitrary boundaries for the middle "box" when precision is required. Many, following the view of the noted sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey (see Kinsey scale), view sexual orientation and behavior on a spectrum, from exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual, with continuous or discontinuous gradations in between. Kinsey's work has generally replaced Freud's much different theory of innate bisexuality, which was based on erroneous assumptions about human biology.

Related Topics:
Sex researcher - Dr. Alfred Kinsey - Kinsey scale - Innate bisexuality

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Several objections have been raised to the classification of people based on desire, including:

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• Sexual attraction is about more than gender; many individual attributes are also important, sometimes more important.
• Sexual behavior is a changeable choice, not a fixed attribute of identity by which one should be classified.
• Category boundaries are arbitrary, and it's demeaning to try to fix complex people into simple "boxes".
• Labels interfere with accepting people for who they are and who they love.

This situation is complicated further by the fact that there are several different biological and psychosocial components to gender, and a given person may not cleanly fit into a particular category. Some people even find the notion of distinct genders (and distinct sexual orientations based upon them) to be offensive. The complexities of gender are explained in the article on sex.

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