View source for Klein Sexual Orientation Grid

{{Short description|Multidimensional scale of human sexuality}}
{{Sexual orientation}}

The '''Klein Sexual Orientation Grid''' ('''KSOG''') developed by [[Fritz Klein (sex researcher)|Fritz Klein]] attempts to measure [[sexual orientation]] by expanding upon the earlier [[Kinsey scale]]. Fritz Klein founded the [[American Institute of Bisexuality]] in 1998 which is continuing his work by sponsoring [[bisexual]]-inclusive sex research, educating the general public on sexuality, and promoting the [[bisexual community]].

Klein first described the KSOG in his 1978 book ''[[The Bisexual Option]]''.<ref name="Coleman1987a">{{cite book|last=Coleman|first=Edmond J|title=Integrated Identity for Gay Men and Lesbians: Psychotherapeutic Approaches for Emotional Well-Being|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfXmSHMDIBgC&pg=PA13|access-date=29 August 2012|date=1987-09-10|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780866566384|pages=13–}}</ref><ref name="Newitz1997">{{cite book|author=The Bad Subjects Production Team|title=Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6inQN6MN0-AC&pg=PT108|access-date=29 August 2012|date=1997-11-01|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814757932|pages=108–}}</ref><ref name="Bancroft2009">{{cite book|last=Bancroft|first=John|title=Human Sexuality And It Problems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bI-Jau14aLAC&pg=PA262|access-date=29 August 2012|year=2009|publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences|isbn=9780443051616|pages=262–}}</ref><ref name="Klein1985">{{cite journal|last=Klein|first=Fritz|author2=Barry Sepekoff |author3=Timothy J. Wolf |year=1985|title=Sexual Orientation|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|volume=11|issue=1–2|pages=35–49|issn=0091-8369|doi=10.1300/J082v11n01_04|pmid=4056393}}</ref> In response to the criticism of the [[Kinsey scale]] only measuring two dimensions of sexual orientation, Klein developed a multidimensional grid for describing sexual orientation. Unlike the Kinsey scale, the Klein grid investigates sexual orientation in the past, the present and in the idealized future with respect to seven factors each, for a total of twenty-one values. The KSOG uses values of 1–7, rather than the 0–6 scale of the Kinsey scale, to describe [[Sexual orientation#Assessment and measurement|a continuum]] from exclusively [[Heterosexuality|opposite-sex]] to exclusively [[Homosexuality|same-sex attraction]].<ref name="Coleman1987b">{{cite journal|last=Coleman|first=Eli|year=1987|title=Assessment of Sexual Orientation|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|volume=14|issue=1–2|pages=9–24|issn=0091-8369|doi=10.1300/J082v14n01_02|pmid=3655356}}</ref>
==Overview==
The KSOG is often used as a tool in research.<ref name="HammackCohler2009">{{cite book|last1=Hammack|first1=Phillip L.|last2=Cohler|first2=Bertram J.|title=The Story of Sexual Identity: Narrative Perspectives on the Gay and Lesbian Life Course|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dI9qkl7otoC&pg=PA114|access-date=29 August 2012|date=2009-03-06|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195326789|pages=114–}}</ref><ref name="BohanRussell1999">{{cite book|last1=Bohan|first1=Janis|last2=Russell|first2=Glenda|title=Conversations about Psychology and Sexual Orientation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhBqaXRL-7kC&pg=PT197|access-date=29 August 2012|date=1999-08-01|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814709139|pages=197–}}</ref> Introduced in Klein's book ''The Bisexual Option'' the KSOG uses a seven-point scale to assess seven different dimensions of sexuality at three different points in an individual's life: past (from early adolescence up to one year ago), present (within the last 12 months), and ideal (what would be chosen if it were voluntary).<ref>{{cite book|last=Klein|first=Fritz|title=The Bisexual Option|year=1993|publisher=The Haworth Press|isbn=978-1-56024-380-9|pages=19}}</ref>

Studies using the KSOG have used [[cluster analysis]] to investigate patterns within the KSOG's twenty-one parameters, in one case suggesting a five-label (straight, bi-straight, bi-bi, bi-gay, gay) model of orientation.<ref name="Roberts1997">{{cite journal|last=Roberts|first=B. C.|year=1997|title=The Many Faces of Bisexuality|journal=International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies|volume=2|issue=1|pages=65–76|issn=1566-1768|doi=10.1023/A:1026341216421|s2cid=141274119}}</ref><ref name="Weinrich2002">{{cite journal|last=Weinrich|first=James D.|author2=Fritz Klein |year=2002|title=Bi-Gay, Bi-Straight, and Bi-Bi|journal=Journal of Bisexuality|volume=2|issue=4|pages=109–139|issn=1529-9716|doi=10.1300/J159v02n04_07|s2cid=141859262}}</ref> 

The KSOG has also been used in studies of [[conversion therapy]].<ref name="JonesYarhouse2007">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stanton L.|last2=Yarhouse|first2=Mark A.|title=Ex-Gays?: A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jKPWSsjC1swC&pg=PA8|access-date=29 August 2012|date=2007-08-24|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=9780830828463|pages=8–}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Klein sexual orientation grid
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Variable !! scope="col" | Determinant !! scope="col" style="min-width:7ex" | Past !! scope="col" style="min-width:7ex" | Present !! scope="col" style="min-width:7ex" | Ideal
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | A !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Sexual attraction
| To whom are you sexually attracted? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | B !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Sexual behaviour
| With whom have you had sex? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | C !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Sexual fantasies
| About whom are your sexual fantasies? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | D !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Emotional preference
| Who do you feel more drawn to or close to emotionally? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | E !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Social preference
| Which gender do you socialize with? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | F !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Lifestyle preference
| In which community do you like to spend your time? In which do you feel most comfortable? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|-
! scope="row" {{rh2|align=center}} | G !! scope="row" {{rh|align=left}} | Self-identification
| How do you label or identify yourself? || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}} || {{nonpartisan|''1–7''}}
|}

{| class="wikitable" table-layout:fixed; text-align:center"
|+ style="padding-bottom:0.4ex" | Scale to measure variables {{color box|#edf|A|border=silver}}, {{color box|#edf|B|border=silver}}, {{color box|#edf|C|border=silver}}, {{color box|#edf|D|border=silver}}, and {{color box|#edf|E|border=silver}} of the KSOG
! scope="col" | 1 !! scope="col" | 2 !! scope="col" | 3 !! scope="col" | 4 !! scope="col" | 5 !! scope="col" | 6 !! scope="col" | 7
|-
| style="background-color:#ffc" | other sex only
| style="background-color:#edffcc" | other sex mostly
| style="background-color:#dcffcc" | other sex<br>somewhat more
| style="background-color:#ccffcd" | both sexes equally
| style="background-color:#ccffde" | same sex<br>somewhat more
| style="background-color:#cff" | same sex mostly
| style="background-color:#ccfcff" | same sex only
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" table-layout:fixed; text-align:center"
|+ style="padding-bottom:0.4ex" | Scale to measure variables {{color box|#edf|F|border=silver}} and {{color box|#edf|G|border=silver}} of the KSOG
! scope="col" | 1 !! scope="col" | 2 !! scope="col" | 3 !! scope="col" | 4 !! scope="col" | 5 !! scope="col" | 6 !! scope="col" | 7
|-
| style="background-color:#ffc" | heterosexual only
| style="background-color:#edffcc" | heterosexual mostly
| style="background-color:#dcffcc" | heterosexual<br>somewhat more
| style="background-color:#ccffcd" | heterosexual and homosexual equally
| style="background-color:#ccffde" | homosexual<br>somewhat more
| style="background-color:#cff" | homosexual mostly
| style="background-color:#ccfcff" | homosexual only
|}

==Shortcomings==
{{Main|Sexual orientation#Sexual orientation distinguished from sexual identity and behavior}}

Klein, while recognizing that the grid explores many more dimensions of sexual orientation than previous scales, acknowledged that it omits the following "aspects" of sexual orientation:<ref>{{cite book|last=Klein|first=Fritz|title=The Bisexual Option|year=1993|pages=20}}</ref>

* Age of partner
* Differentiation of love and friendship in the emotional preference variable
* Sexual attraction being distinguished between [[sexual desire]] and [[limerence]]
* Whether [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]] referred to number of partners or number of occurrences
* [[Sex role]]s as well as masculine and feminine roles

Additionally, factors not addressed by Klein include:
* Attraction to non-binary/transgender orientations.

While Klein held the belief that including more dimensions of sexual orientation was better, Weinrich et al. (1993) found that all of the dimensions of the KSOG seemed to be measuring the same construct.<ref name="Weinrich 1993 157–168">{{cite journal|author=J. Weinrich|title=A factor analysis of the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid in two disparate samples|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|year=1993|volume=22|issue=2|pages=157–168|doi=10.1007/bf01542364|display-authors=etal|pmid=8476335|s2cid=34708645}}</ref> The study conducted a [[factor analysis]] of the KSOG to see how many factors emerged in two different samples. In both groups, the first factor to emerge loaded substantially on all of the grid's 21 items, indicating that this factor accounted for a majority of the variance. They further found that a second factor emerged containing time dimensions of social and emotional preferences, suggesting that those dimensions may have also been measuring something other than sexual orientation. Therefore, despite the scale being helpful in promoting the concept of sexual orientation as being multidimensional and dynamic, the additional dimensions measured do not necessarily reveal any more of an accurate description of one's overall sexual orientation than the Kinsey scale.

Another concern with the KSOG is that different dimensions of sexual orientation may not identify all people of a certain orientation in the same way. Measures of [[sexual attraction]], sexual activity, and [[sexual identity]] identify different (though often overlapping) populations. Laumann et al. (1994) found that of the 8.6% of women reporting some same gender sexuality, 88% reported same gender sexual attraction, 41% reported some same gender sexual behaviour and 16% reported a lesbian or gay identity.<ref name="Laumann 1994 303">{{cite book|last=Laumann|title=The Social Organization of Sexuality|year=1994|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-46957-7|pages=303|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Human sexuality|LGBTQ}}
* [[Affectional orientation]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [[Fritz Klein (sex researcher)|Klein, Fritz, MD]]. [https://archive.org/details/bisexualoption0000klei ''The Bisexual Option'', Second Edition] {{registration required}}. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 1993. {{ISBN|1560230339}}. {{OCLC|27187013}}.
* [https://www.autisticempire.com/klein Klein Sexual Orientation Grid]—Online version of original Klein Sexual Orientation Grid.

{{Bisexuality topics}}
{{LGBTQ|orientation=yes}}

[[Category:1987 introductions]]
[[Category:Bisexuality]]
[[Category:Human sexuality]]
[[Category:LGBTQ and society]]
[[Category:Sexology]]
[[Category:Sexual orientation and science]]