Just a Little Gay: How Sexual Orientation Comes in Degrees
Journal of Philosophy
You can be a little gay or a lot gay. You can be mostly heterosexual. You can be somewhat lesbian. What I am saying is: sexual orientation comes in degrees. This point is well-established in sexuality studies but largely neglected by philosophers. The on-off (or binary) model of sexual orientation, which is implicit in most philosophical theories of sexual orientation, misrepresents social reality. I aim to correct this state of affairs. I propose a theory of sexual orientation that is fundamentally scalar and multidimensional: scalar, because sexual orientation comes in degrees; multidimensional, because there are various dimensions of sexual orientation – desire, disposition, duration, etc.
This is a forthcoming publication. Publication link coming soon!