androgyny

• Androgyny involves having both male and female characteristics and was introduced by psychologist Sandra Bem in the 1970s. This idea opposes the traditional view that masculine and feminine behaviours are separate.
• Traditionally, individuals were seen as either masculine or feminine and those with a good fit with their gender roles, that is masculine males and feminine females, were better adjusted psychologically. This view resulted in psychological tests making it impossible to score highly as both masculine and feminine (i.e. androgynous)
• Bem argued that the traditional view that rigid sex roles were important for mental health was incorrect and it was actually psychologically more health to avoid fixed sex-role stereotypes.
• Bem argued that men and women should feel free to adopt a variety of masculine and feminine type behaviours to suit their personality, i.e. if men enjoyed cooking or being gentle, they should not have to be stifled. The thinking here was that stifling a persons personality has psychological costs such as the potential to lead to mental disorders.
• Bem Sex Role Investory (BSRI)

  The test was developed by asking 100 American undergraduates which personality traits they thought were desirable for men or women. 20 masculine traits and 20 feminine traits were available to choose from with 20 neutral traits also included as distractors. Each person rated themselves on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from never to almost never true to almost always true.
• An additional forth category of undifferentiated was added (low scores for both masculine and feminine traits) after criticism by Spence et al (1975), who highlighted that the test did not differentiate between androgynous (high in both masculine and feminine traits) and a person that is neither masculine nor feminine (low in both)
• The test was designed so participants could be tested for both masculinity and femininity independently unlike traditional tests that limited to classifying an individual towards only one. Numerical scores for masculine and feminine traits are then added up allowing individuals to be categorised as either masculine (high masculine score, low feminine), feminine (low masculinity, high feminine) and androgynous (high ratio of masculine to feminine traits).
• Bem subsequently developed Gender Schema Theory which explained differences between an androgynous person and a traditionally sex-typed person due to cognitive style. She argued that when an androgynous person is faced with a decision on how to behave, they respond independently of any gender concepts. On the other hand, a traditionally sex-typed person determines what would be appropriate based on their gender due to their gender schemas. Bem therefore argued that a person was was free in their cognitive style (I.e. an androgynous individual) would be psychologically healthier.