Do you wish there was an objective test for sexual orientation?

There is one for males where they show you various types of porn (gay, straight, lesbian) and you're hooked up to a sensor that measures penile activity/arousal. It was featured in the documentary "how we got gay." I'm sure there are other brain scans and things that can measure that sort of thing as well.

 

I sometimes wish there were one, and I'm sure there have been attempts to do so before.

But I doubt there will be one that is truly, completely objective and accurate any time soon, if only because sexual orientation can be fairly complex, and how it's manifested may be different and difficult to measure from one person to another. Denial/repression can also do wonders, so factors such as that may affect an otherwise 'objective' test- even if it's measuring biological/physiological reactions. And anyhow, the ethical implications may become an issue too.

Besides all that, personally I have wished for one before, it would have saved a lot of trouble and time trying to figure it all out. Maybe a magic 8 ball :lol:

 

Yeah...

 

Yeah I wish there was, it would be so much easier.

 

To be fair, this does not necessarily indicate sexual orientation. Some gays might not have any response to any porn and some straights might have stress reaction. Sometimes when I'm in distress I get erection but that hardly means I find the situation sexually arousing.

There is a female version where a probe is inserted in vagina and it measures blood flow changes. However, same caveats appear as with male version of this test.

 

Not really actually. Everybody knows you can't control what race you are, yet there are still racists. Even if there was a test, I think they'd still find a way. So I don't think it would really help against homophobes or people saying you look too feminine.

 

I heard of one objective test where if you have sex with the same gender, it means youre gay. The science behind it seems legit.

 

And what if after that you feel like it wasn't for you and you never do it again? Although in most cases observing what people do is a pretty good indicator but there are always exceptions. I know that junkies have gay sex for money to finance their drug habit but I doubt they are necessarily gays.

 

I'm pretty sure that if I attempted to take such a test, I'd cause the computer to implode itself. Even a test like that probably couldn't pinpoint exactly what my "sexuality" (if I even have one) is.

 

I'm always aroused by men, never by women. That's a pretty good indicator to me.

 

It would be cool to have something definite, yeah.

 

Yeah, but I don't think it would be very accurate. Some women have arousal and blood flow changes while they're being raped, so It's similar to the stress reactions like you said. Other women just watch porn for the scenery and don't care about the people involved.

I think It's more accurate to go by who you develop a crush on.

 

Yes, it would shut the nonsense doubts that daily go on in my head.

 

No. I think there's a modern cultural neurosis expecting everything to be measurable, clinical, numerical and statistical and this question reflects that. I think sexuality's sometimes ambiguous nature results in any attempt at an objective test being too narrow and leaving gaps or being far too broad and being almost pointless.

Sometimes things are messier than a sliding scale and we just have to deal with that.

 

It would be great if there were such a test.
I get bored of questioning.

 

It might be worth pointing out that such a test could have some undesirable side effects. I read in the 90s about this: if there is some way of accurately testing, there could be discrimination of some sort. Back then, the example given was that health insurance companies might use this as an excuse to crank up rates on gay men, due to what they'd see as a HIV/AIDS risk.

Think about what might happen in Russia today if they had this test...

Personally, I don't need any test past the reaction I get inside when I see a hot guy at the grocery store. And if others in my life don't believe I'm gay if/when I come out, well, that's their problem, not mine.

 

My luck they'd rig the test and then tell the whole world they're one way or the other. :|

 

I think it would help a lot of other people.

As for me, I'd just be interested in the results.