The Kinsey Scale and the Pashtun: The Role of Culture in Measuring Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Although a useful and compelling model, the Kinsey Scale remains a model, a descriptor that at once measures sexuality and helps define the experience in our culture. In other cultures, such as that of the Pashtun tribe of Kabul, Afghanistan, we see how this descriptor may fail to be useful or meaningful. One expert estimates that one half of the city's male residents have sex with men or boys at some point in their lives. The discussion concludes questioning how the Western cultural model is changing the role of same-sex attractions in other cultures.

Keywords:

• Kinsey Scale
• sex research
• sexual orientation
• bisexuality
• Pashtun tribe
• Afghanistan
• cross-cultural studies