The Einstein of Sex

[theimpossiblek]

I was reading up on sexual orientation when I found this interesting bit of info:

From at least the late-19th century in Europe, there was speculation that the range of human sexual response looked more like a continuum than two or three discrete categories. 28-year-old Berlin sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld published a scheme in 1896 that measured the strength of an individual's sexual desire on two independent 10-point scales, A (homosexual) and B (heterosexual). A heterosexual individual may be A0, B5; a homosexual individual may be A5, B0; An asexual would be A0, B0; and someone with an intense attraction to both sexes would be A9, B9.

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned already (or maybe I missed that post?)

Hirschfeld is most known for working as a gay rights activist in 19th century Germany, but his research wasn't limited to homosexuality. I thought it was quite interesting to read that this "Einstein of Sex" was aware of asexuality, and even accounted for it in his theory*. The Washington Post even claims his theory is broader than Kinsey's scale developed fifty years later.

*Hirschfield's theory can be found in his pamphlet Sappho and Socrates

[Lord Happy Toast]

A similar account of sexual orientation was proposed in the late 70's and that can be seen on the wiki. As for you the one that you've cited, I haven't seen anybody on AVEN talk about it. I've run across it before (in seeing someone make reference to it online), but I was never able to actually get a copy of the book myself.

[< retired >]

Not to nitpick, but it could be argued that 'desire' and 'response' are two different things. There are some folks on this board who have little desire for sex, but still respond (i.e., become aroused) if appropriately stimulated (either by themselves or someone else). On the other hand, there are folks like me who have (fluctuating) desire for sex but sometimes have difficulty becoming sufficiently aroused. So, perhaps for both the homosexual and heterosexual axes we need two additional axes indicating strength of desire and strength of response. This four-axis model might actually be useful:

+ each axis measured from 0 to 10

+ standard order: hetero/desire, hetero/response, homo/desire, homo/response

I guess I would be a 6, 2, 0, 0. 8)

There may be some 0, 0, 0, 0 folks on this board; I more often see other flavors.

[natsume]

that's interesting, I hadn't heard of his scale. Although asexual may be more akin to 0 or 1 on the scales.

[oeko]

interesting i hadnt heard this before

[Nonz16]

that's really cool - i had no idea that existed!

[Angelica Soprano]

Can I self define? A=0 B=1¼

[zero desire]

Not to nitpick, but it could be argued that 'desire' and 'response' are two different things. There are some folks on this board who have little desire for sex, but still respond (i.e., become aroused) if appropriately stimulated (either by themselves or someone else). On the other hand, there are folks like me who have (fluctuating) desire for sex but sometimes have difficulty becoming sufficiently aroused. So, perhaps for both the homosexual and heterosexual axes we need two additional axes indicating strength of desire and strength of response. This four-axis model might actually be useful:

+ each axis measured from 0 to 10

+ standard order: hetero/desire, hetero/response, homo/desire, homo/response

I guess I would be a 6, 2, 0, 0. 8)

There may be some 0, 0, 0, 0 folks on this board; I more often see other flavors.

I like this a lot. I was still using a combination of Kinsey's and the AVEN Triangle. I self define 2, 7, 1, 0.

[rotifer]

0,0,0,0,

Or as the eurovision would say

Rotifer - null points!