Kinks shamers need not apply.
A salacious new sexual study is giving curious copulators a means of measuring their personal kink factor with a free online test called the Kink Orientation Scale.
Researchers at the University of Brighton in the UK had long suspected that the stigma attached to kink belies its ubiquity. In their latest report, published in the Journal of Sex Research, they aim to clarify kink as more than an outlying sexual preference.
“Kink” refers to any form of sex that deviates from the most widely depicted forms of sexual activity, a.k.a. “vanilla” sex, which may entail the exchange of power (domination/submission), inflicting and receiving pain (sadism/masochism), restraint and control (bondage/discipline) or including multiple partners (orgies), to name just a few examples. However, real-life engagement with such practices isn’t requisite to being considered “kinky,” according to the new scale, validating those whose non-normative sexual interests remain only in fantasy form.
Previous research into kink relied on those who already self-identify as “kinky,” excluding those who are aroused by kink but do not act on those urges. Researchers hope their Kink Orientation Scale can help close this gap to encourage more inclusive sex studies in the future.
The test encompasses five facets of kink engagement: identity, paraphernalia, community, practices and communication. The results are calculated on a 90-point scale with 90 indicating the highest kink engagement.
After several rounds of development, the survey was ultimately reduced to 18 questions exploring a wide spectrum of kink and providing a more nuanced view of human sexuality.
Curious about your kink factor? The Kink Orientation Scale is available via PsyPost.org.