Probably the most widely cited part of the Kinsey Reports regard the prevalence of different
sexual orientations — especially to support a claim that 10% of the population is gay. In fact, the findings are not so straightforward, and Kinsey himself avoided and disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual to describe individuals, asserting that sexuality is prone to change over time, and that sexual behavior can be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychological phenomena (desire, sexual attraction, fantasy).[
citation needed] Instead of three categories (
heterosexual,
bisexual and
homosexual), a seven-category system was used. The
Kinsey scale ranked sexual behavior from 0 to 6, with 0 being completely heterosexual and 6 completely homosexual. A 0 was considered to be strictly heterosexual, a 1 mostly heterosexual, a 2 more than incidentally heterosexual, a 3 equally homosexual and heterosexual, a 4 more than incidentally homosexual, and so on. An additional category 7 was created by his colleagues for asexuals, ‘those who experienced no sexual desire.
The reports also state that nearly 46% of the male subjects had "reacted" sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37% had at least one homosexual experience.
[5] 11.6% of white males (ages 20-35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) throughout their adult lives.
[6] The study also reported that 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55" (in the 5 to 6 range).
[7]
7% of single females (ages 20-35) and 4% of previously married females (ages 20-35) were given a rating of 3 (about equal heterosexual and homosexual experience/response) on the 7-point Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale for this period of their lives.
[8] 2 to 6% of females, aged 20-35, were more or less exclusively homosexual in experience/response,
[9] and 1 to 3% of unmarried females aged 20-35 were exclusively homosexual in experience/response.
[10]