Do you enjoy dressing up during sex? Think sex toys are important? Or maybe you like to blend a bit of pain with pleasure? If so, you could be kinky and not even know it.
According to the creators of the Kink Orientation Scale (KOS), published in The Journal of Sex Research, everyone is, to some degree, kinky. Perhaps you’re a classic vanilla, a sensory seeker with a passion for role play, or a hardcore kinkster.
Designed with 18 questions—including the ones above—the KOS helps reveal where you fall on the continuum. It was developed to make kink research more inclusive by expanding its focus beyond those who already identify as kinky.
So, why wait? Discover just how kinky you are by taking the KOS quiz at thekinkscale.com.
What is kink?
Kink is a broad term that covers a wide range of sexual practices, including those associated with BDSM. Lead author Liam Wignall, Ph.D., describes kink as:
“A spectrum of sexual or erotic activities outside of normative versions of sex, undertaken for sensory, emotional, or psychological pleasure. It tends to include: the exchange of power, or performance of this; the infliction or receiving of pain; the wearing of gear; and/or the fetishization of body parts and/or objects. Kink can be practiced individually or in groups, and it can be organized into communities and subcultures. It is consensual, with a shared understanding that the activities are kinky.”
Barriers to studying kink
Kink research faces several challenges.
First, recruiting participants is difficult, as kink is often hidden within subcultures due to social stigma. To gain access, researchers must—for excellent reasons—build trust within kink communities. This often leads to an over-representation of openly kinky individuals and under-representation of those with private kinky interests
Another issue is an overreliance on Fetlife—a large social network for kinky people that mostly attracts heterosexual users—limiting the diversity of study samples.
Finally, few validated scales are specifically designed for kink. Those that exist often focus on stereotypes, non-consensual practices, or strictly examine specific behaviors. This overlooks the fact that many people have kink fantasies without ever acting on them.
In sum, existing scales fail to capture the full complexity of kink orientation, which researchers define “as interest or desire to engage in kink practices.”
The Kink Orientation Scale
To make studying kink easier, Dr. Wignall and his research team developed the Kink Orientation Scale (KOS).
The survey measures various aspects of kink sexuality by asking participants to share how much they agree or disagree with 18 statements.
Only two explicitly mention kink identity: “I would describe myself as kinky” and “Friends describe me as kinky.” Others include “I like my sex to incorporate a power dynamic,” “I am part of a sexual subculture,” and “Casual sex is fun.”
Participants respond using a 5-point scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”—and the higher you score, the kinkier you likely are.
Creating the kink scale
When developing the kink scale, researchers began with a pool of 36 questions. After reviewing research and holding focus groups with both kinky and non-kinky individuals, they were narrowed down to 27.
These questions were then tested with 200 university students. A detailed analysis of response patterns led to the final selection of 18 questions, grouped into five main themes: kink identity, kink paraphernalia (items used in kink), kink community, kink practices, and sexual communication.
To validate the 18-question KOS survey, it was given to 1,025 people from the kink community. Participants were recruited online through Recon, a fetish and kink social network for gay men.
The results revealed both student and kink groups shared a similar range of scores. However, the kink group scored noticeably higher overall. Most students scored below the midpoint, while kink community members tended to score above it. This difference highlights the KOS survey’s ability to measure kink involvement in a well-rounded way.
Limitations
As the kink scale edges into existence, its creators acknowledge it has limitations.
For example, it needs to be tested with a larger, more general population as well as more diverse kink groups.
In addition, the final KOS includes two items that didn’t statistically align with the others: “My sexual interests are constantly evolving” and “Sex toys are important for sex.”
The researchers decided to include them because they complemented related questions about kink practices and paraphernalia. However, their low loadings (less than 0.3) and high uniqueness (greater than 0.8) suggest a weak connection to the main themes, potentially impacting the scale’s reliability and validity. Nonetheless, researchers are eager to see how these questions perform in future versions of the KOS as it continues to develop.
The future of kink research
As kink curiosity grows in sexology and social sciences, the KOS can help elevate research in these fields.
Instead of focusing only on self-identified kinksters, the KOS takes a broader approach. It includes casual experimenters, those with kink-related fantasies, and loud-and-proud enthusiasts alike.
Just as sexual orientation exists on a spectrum, the results suggest that so does kink. It’s less about if you’re kinky and more about how kinky you are.
Future research should explore how the KOS compares with kink-related scales and continuous measures of sexual orientation. Moreover, it can be used with other surveys to explore how kink relates to various factors, such as sexual health, personality traits, and risk-taking behaviors.
Still wondering how kinky are you? Find out by taking the kink scale quiz: https://thekinkscale.com
