Researcher blurs line between gay, straight

"I have a friend who's been gay since day one, 51 years old, who one day comes to me and says, 'Fritz, I'm starting to think about vaginas and women. What's going on?' "

So began Dr. Fritz Klein's lecture on bisexuality Monday afternoon. Klein used his confused middle-aged friend as an example of his vision of the complex and ever-changing nature of sexual orientation.

Klein, a clinical psychiatrist by training, claims that a strict dichotomy between "straight" and "gay," or even a sexuality continuum like the one set forth by researcher Alfred Kinsey is insufficient to describe sexuality. It is "much more complicated than that," Klein said during the event, which was sponsored by the Fund for Reunion LGBTQ Lecture Series and the LGBT Center.

Klein demonstrated his own system for describing sexuality, the Klein grid, using a volunteer from the audience as an example.

The grid asks the subjects to rate themselves on a scale of one — exclusively heterosexual — to seven — exclusively homosexual — in seven categories that take into account not only sexual behavior and fantasies, but also lifestyle and social groups.

There is a separate set of rankings for the subject's past, present and "ideal" situations, meant to acknowledge that sexual orientation often changes over time.

Even this more flexible system elicited complaints and calls for clarification from the audience. After the volunteer — a male Princeton student who asked not to be named — said he rated himself as a five in terms of sexual behavior, several hands shot up.

One audience member wanted to know exactly what Klein defined as "sex."

"Clinton says fellatio isn't sex. Fritz Klein says that fellatio is sex," Klein responded, drawing laughter from the audience.

"Any sexual action, even as mild as hugging" can be categorized as sex, Klein said. "What matters is what's going on inside you."

As the demonstration progressed, more and more questions led to a lively exchange between Klein and the audience. One female attendee questioned the inclusion of the gender of an individual's friends into the study. She asked, "If there is a gay man with all straight women friends, is that a less gay lifestyle?" Klein responded, "No, not if they're getting together to watch 'Sex and the City.' "

In the end, some audience members went away unsatisfied. After the lecture, the volunteer said in an interview that he felt that the Klein grid he filled out represented his sexuality "very poorly."