How Frank is built.

Frank is not a quiz. It is a structured intimacy assessment built on decades of peer-reviewed research in sexual psychology, attachment theory, and desire science. This page explains the frameworks behind each dimension, why we chose them, and how they work together to create your profile.

The core idea

Most couples who are sexually dissatisfied do not have a compatibility problem. They have a visibility problem. Both people have desires, boundaries, curiosities, and patterns. But these are rarely articulated, rarely shared, and almost never compared systematically.

Frank makes the invisible visible. Each partner completes the assessment independently. Neither sees the other's raw responses. The system computes the overlap and presents it to both people simultaneously. The result is a shared starting point for the conversations that matter most.

The assessment is not measuring whether you are good or bad at sex. It is mapping the specific way your sexuality works.

Dimension 1: Attachment style

Based on the work of John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, and later researchers including Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver, who first applied attachment theory to adult romantic relationships in 1987.

Frank assesses attachment across four patterns: secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganised. Your attachment style predicts how you handle vulnerability in sexual contexts, how you interpret ambiguous signals from a partner, and what happens emotionally when intimacy intensifies or withdraws.

We use a continuous scoring model rather than categorical labels. Most people are not purely one style. They sit somewhere on a spectrum, and their position can shift depending on the relationship and the context. Frank captures this nuance.

Dimension 2: Desire style

Based on the dual control model of sexual response developed by Erick Janssen and John Bancroft at the Kinsey Institute, and popularised by Emily Nagoski in Come As You Are (2015).

Frank distinguishes between spontaneous desire (arousal that appears without external prompting) and responsive desire (arousal that builds in reaction to the right context). This is not a binary. It is a spectrum, and your position on it has profound implications for how you and your partner navigate initiation, frequency, and the meaning of "wanting" sex.

Understanding this single dimension eliminates a significant amount of unnecessary suffering in relationships. The partner with responsive desire is not broken. The partner with spontaneous desire is not demanding. They simply have different arousal architectures.

Dimension 3: Brakes and accelerators

Also from Janssen and Bancroft's dual control model. Your sexual response system has two independent mechanisms: the Sexual Excitation System (accelerator) and the Sexual Inhibition System (brake). Both run continuously.

Frank identifies your specific brakes (the contextual factors that suppress arousal: stress, disconnection, pressure, body image concerns, environmental factors) and your specific accelerators (the contextual factors that activate arousal: particular types of touch, emotional connection, novelty, feeling desired).

The research shows that brakes matter more than accelerators for overall sexual satisfaction. Most people trying to improve their sex life focus on adding stimulation. The more effective intervention is usually removing inhibitors.

Dimension 4: Power orientation

Drawing on research into sexual agency, initiation patterns, and the distribution of sexual decision-making in couples. This dimension maps where you naturally sit on the spectrum between leading and following in sexual contexts.

This is not about BDSM or kink (though it can include those). It is about the everyday power dynamics that shape most couples' sex lives: who initiates, who decides, who sets the pace, who compromises, who holds implicit veto power. These patterns are almost never discussed, and understanding them is one of the most illuminating aspects of the assessment.

Dimension 5: Body and sensation

Based on research into somatic experience, body image, and the role of physical sensation in sexual satisfaction. This dimension explores how you relate to your body during sex, your touch preferences, your sensitivity patterns, and how body image affects your sexual experience.

Body experience is one of the most under-discussed aspects of sexuality. Many people have strong preferences about how, where, and with what intensity they want to be touched, but have never articulated these preferences to a partner.

Dimension 6: Sexual preferences

The most extensive section of the assessment. Frank presents a comprehensive spectrum of sexual activities, desires, and scenarios. Each person rates their level of interest on a scale that ranges from "not for me" to "yes, I want this."

This is where the overlap computation becomes most powerful. Both partners answer privately. Neither sees the other's individual ratings. Frank identifies the activities and desires where both partners have expressed mutual interest, creating a map of shared ground that neither person had to initiate the conversation about.

The design is deliberately non-judgmental. Every answer is valid. Saying "not for me" carries exactly the same weight as "yes." The goal is honesty, not aspiration.

Dimension 7: Fantasy

Drawing on research into the role of erotic imagination in sexual satisfaction. Fantasy is one of the most private aspects of sexuality, and one of the most powerful. This dimension explores your inner erotic world, the scenarios you think about, the themes that recur, and how comfortable you are sharing them.

Dimension 8: Novelty and routine

Based on research into sexual novelty-seeking, habituation, and the tension between erotic safety and erotic adventure. Some people need predictability to feel sexually safe. Others need novelty to feel sexually alive. Most people need some of both, in different proportions.

Frank maps where you fall on this spectrum and, critically, where your partner falls. Mismatches here are common and highly actionable. Understanding that your partner's desire for novelty is not a criticism of your sex life, or that your partner's desire for routine is not a lack of passion, changes the dynamic entirely.

Dimension 9: Communication

Based on research into sexual communication patterns and their correlation with sexual satisfaction. This is consistently one of the strongest predictors of a good sex life. Not technique. Not frequency. Not compatibility. Communication.

Frank assesses how comfortable you are asking for what you want, giving feedback, hearing feedback, and navigating differences. It also identifies the specific barriers that prevent you from communicating openly about sex.

How the overlap works

When both partners have completed the assessment, Frank computes the overlap server-side. Neither partner's raw data is exposed to the other. The overlap identifies:

• Shared desires — activities and experiences both partners want
• Growth edges — areas where one partner is curious and the other is open
• Complementary patterns — where your different styles work well together
• Attention points — where your patterns may create friction without awareness

The result is not a score or a grade. It is a map. A starting point for the conversations that most couples never have, delivered in a way that means neither person has to go first.

AI-generated insights

Frank uses Anthropic's Claude to generate personalised narrative insights for each individual and each couple. These are not generic templates. They are written specifically for your profile configuration, drawing on the intersection of your scores across all dimensions.

The AI is guided by detailed prompts grounded in the same research that underlies the assessment. The tone is warm, direct, and non-clinical. The goal is to give you language for things you may have felt but never articulated.