APA (edition "APA 6") Health Care and Life Sciences

Can Sexuality be Standardized?

Research on sexuality is particularly muddy because researchers cannot agree on definitions for describing hetro and homosexuality. This means every time you pick up an article on sexuality you will need to first determine what the researcher’s definition is before you can appreciate what conclusions are offered.

Many scientific disciplines offer strict definitions for describing, characterizing, and defining things: For example in anatomy an organ is defined as a group of tissues working together; In psychology the Diagnostic Statistical Manual provides a detailed description for every documented mental illness.

Take a stance:

Should the definitions for heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and bi-homosexual be standardized in the field of sexuality research? Can the definitions be standardized? What would your version look like?

Or

Should definitions be variable depending on the nature of the  research; keep in mind this may mean  excluding subjects (that do not fit a given definition), or altering definitions to suit a particular study? Give examples and provide any insight that you can. Why can’t sexuality be standardized to black and white terms?