Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and straight are sexual orientations. Our sexual orientation is about who we’re attracted to sexually. A woman who is sexually attracted to other women often calls herself a lesbian. A man who is sexually attracted to other men often calls himself gay. People who are attracted to both women and men often called themselves bisexual. And people who are attracted to people of the other sex often call themselves straight.
Why do we say “often”? Because some people don’t think these labels describe them accurately. Some people don’t like the idea of labels at all. It can take many years for people to figure out their sexual orientation. Questioning means people are not sure of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This is normal, and it’s very common — especially for teenagers.
People are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or straight to varying degrees. In the 1940s and 50s, Dr. Alfred Kinsey designed a scale for measuring the degree of sexual orientation. It’s called the Kinsey scale. He used the numbers 0–6 to describe the varying degrees of sexual orientation. People still use the Kinsey scale numbers to describe the degree of their own or another person’s sexual orientation:
0 — only attracted to the other sex
1 — usually attracted to the other sex, but attracted to the same sex once in a while
2 — usually attracted to the other sex, but attracted to the same sex more than once in a while
3 — equally attracted to both sexes
4 — usually attracted to the same sex, but attracted to the other sex more than once in a while
5 — usually attracted to the same sex, but attracted to the other sex once in a while
6 — only attracted to the same sex
The only people who don’t fall somewhere on the Kinsey scale are those who are not attracted to anyone. These folks are often called asexual.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA) works to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and education, and provides support to its member affiliates. Planned Parenthood affiliates are separately incorporated public charities that operate health centers across the U.S. as trusted sources of health care and education for people of all genders in communities across the country. PPFA is tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) - EIN 13-1644147. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable under the law.
© 2024 Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc.
Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.
Allow all Cookie settingsPlanned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.
We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.
We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.
We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.