Are You Capable
of Same-Gender Attraction?

We're not going to answer that question for you, but we can certainly ask some questions that may help clarify your own thoughts. Let's make it clear, however, that these questions are geared mostly toward deciding whether you're capable of being attracted to anyone of the same gender who you're acquainted with right now. Your answers to these questions don't necessarily indicate anything about whether you've been capable of same-gender attraction in the past or will be in the future. You might also bear in mind that many of us believe that all people are capable of same-gender attraction under the right circumstances—but our purpose here is to allow you to examine your own feelings and draw your own conclusions about yourself.

You also don't need to answer "yes" to all of these questions in order to define yourself as being capable of same-sex attraction. Just take every question for exactly what it is and bear your answers to each of them in mind when making decisions about how you want to live. Whether your answers all add up to something called "attraction" or not can vary depending on what your personal definition of "attraction" is.

  1. Do you know anyone of your own gender who you care about as a friend?
  2. Can you imagine caring about them enough to want to stay friends with them forever?
  3. Can you imagine caring about them enough to want to live with them forever?
  4. Can you imagine caring about them enough to be willing to agree not to go out with anyone else if doing so would hurt their feelings?
  5. Can you imagine that you would enjoy hugging them?
  6. Can you imagine that you would enjoy sleeping in the same bed with them and hugging them all night long?
  7. Can you imagine that you would enjoy squeezing their hand for reassurance during a long emotional talk?
  8. Can you imagine that you would enjoy kissing them?
  9. Can you imagine that you would enjoy letting them cry on your shoulder when they are sad?
  10. Can you imagine that you would enjoy lovingly rubbing your hand, mouth, or other body parts on their sex organs as an expression of your love for them?
  11. Can you imagine that you would enjoy having them lovingly rub their hand, mouth, or other body parts on your sex organs as an expression of their love for you?

Again, you don't need to answer "yes" to all of these questions in order to define yourself as being capable of same-sex attraction. For example, if you answered "yes" to everything except #4 ("Can you imagine caring about them enough to be willing to agree not to go out with anyone else if doing so would hurt their feelings?") then you could have a very good lifelong same-gender love relationship with someone else who doesn't desire monogamy. Or if you also answered "no" to #3 ("Can you imagine caring about them enough to want to live with them forever?") then you could have a very good temporary same-gender love relationship, or a lifelong one that just doesn't involve living together. The queer community is a large and varied place, and no matter what combination of answers you give to the questions above, there will always be people seeking the same kinds of relationships that you are. So just take each of your answers for exactly what it is and bear them all in mind when making decisions about how you want to live.

A few social scientists have developed worksheets to help you analyze your sexual orientation. These worksheets will not give you any black-and-white answers about whether you should call yourself "queer," "het," or anything else, because there are no black-and-white answers. However, the worksheets may help you get a better idea of why sexual orientation can't be neatly summed up in terms like "queer" or "het." If you get a few friends to fill them out too, you may also get to see how different people's sexual orientations can be even when the people call themselves by the same labels—or how alike people's sexual orientations can be even when the people call themselves by different labels. Here are two such worsheets:

A Sexual Orientation Worksheet—developed by Fritz Klein, published in his book The Bisexual Option in 1978.

The Multidimensional Scale of Sexuality—developed by B. R. Berkey, T. Perelman-Hall and L. A. Kurdek, published in the Journal of Homosexuality 1990.

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