Catalogue Number
NMLH.2020.7
Object Name
Badge
Title
Kinsey 3.5... and counting!
People
Alfred Kinsey
Description
Orange badge, reading "Kinsey 3.5... and counting!"
This badge saying â3.5 and countingâ is a comedic reference to the Kinsey Scale, saying the wearer is moving to the higher end of the scale, or becoming âmore gayâ.
The Kinsey Scale was developed in the late 1940s by Drs. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and Clyde Martin as the âHeterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scaleâ based on interviews with thousands of people about their sexual behaviour and attractions. The seven-point scale goes from 0 (exclusively heterosexual, or straight) to 6 (exclusively homosexual, or gay). X indicates no sexual attraction, which may now be referred to as asexual or ace. In the middle of the scale, 3 indicates âequally heterosexual and homosexualâ, which may now be called bisexual or pansexual. The scale uses a binary idea of gender to assign sexualities so has fallen out of use more recently.
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