Androgyny

• Androgyny is 


  Individuals who display equal levels of masc & fem traits/characteristics.

  • In everyday language - to have the appearance of someone who cannot clearly be male or female (e.g. fashion).
  • In psychological terms - a flexible gender role - displaying a balance of both masc & fem traits, attitude & behaviours.
• Traditional view 


  Historically only 2 gender identities :

  • Manly man - e.g. builders, firefighters.
  • Girly girl - e.g. internet stars, nursery workers.
• Sandra Bem (1974)

  • Suggested more than 2 gender types.
  • Added androgyny to masc & fem identities.
  • Fem males (metrosexuals) & masc females (ladettes) - this isn't androgyny as not a balance of 2 genders.
  • Suggested androgyny is associated w psychological well-being:

  -Those psychologically both masc & fem in equal, better equipped to adapt to range of situations e.g. competitive at work, caring w children.

  -Non-androgynous ppl find this difficult as have less traits to draw on.

  -Androgynous ppl aren't suppressing themselves just to fit in w sex-role stereotypes.
• Sandra Bem ('74) - BSRI


  • Bem devised an inventory for measuring gender.
  • BSRI - Bem Sex Role Inventory (list of items).
  • First systematic attempt to measure androgyny using a rating scale of 60 traits (20 masc, 20 fem, 20 neutral) to produce scores across 2 dimensions :

  -Masculinity - femininity.

  -Androgynous (high masc & fem) - undifferentiated (low masc & fem).
• Sandra Bem ('74) - BSRI

  • Answers were collected using a 7 point rating scale, (1 = never or almost never true, 7 = always or almost always true).
  • Examples of items in the BSRI :

  -Masc items e.g. aggressive, assertive.

  -Fem items e.g. caring, shy.

  -Neutral items e.g. adaptable, jealous.
• Androgyny (Bem, 1974).

  • Masculinity & femininity are independent traits.
  • They aren't inevitable linked to sex.
  • A person can score high or low on either or both regardless to their sex.
  • Bem found that more ppl were androgynous than the extremes.
• Evaluation 1 - Quantitative approach

  P- Strength of Bem's work is that androgyny is measured quantitatively.

  Ev- The personal attribute questionnaire (PAQ) adds another dimension to measure (instrumentality & expressivity).

  Ex- Both quantitative & qualitative approaches may be useful for studying gender identity.
• Evaluation 2 - Valid and reliable.

  P- Strength of BSRI is, at the time, it appeared to be a valid & reliable way of measuring androgyny.

  Ev for validity- piloted on 1000 sts - results corresponded w sts own description of their gender identity.

  Ev for reliability- a follow-up study produced similar scores when they tested the same sts a month later = test-retest reliability.

  Ex- gives us reason to believe the test was both valid & reliable.
• Evaluation 2 - Valid and reliable.

  Counterpoint.


  • 50 years old - lacks temporal validity as the traits may no longer represent typical male/female traits today - so cannot generalise today.
• Evaluation 3 - self awareness

  P- Limitation of BSRI is ppl may not have insight into their degree of masculinity, femininity or androgyny.

  Ev- Ppl wont fully understand meaning of all the traits, they wont understand how much of that trait they show in their behaviour, not all ppts understand how to apply the rating scale to themselves in the same way.

  Ex- Therefore, BSRI isn't an objective & therefore scientific way of assessing gender identity.