AO3 sex role stereotypes & androdgny

• • A strength of the BSRI is that it uses quantitative data to measure androgyny
  • This is beneficial, it allows us to easily quantify independent variables, correlate and compare data
  • However, it is arguably limiting as Spence argued because there's more to gender then a set of stereotyped behaviours
  • So, arguably qualitative data would be better to analyse data, giving speficic information
  • So, perhaps a combination of quantitative and qualatiative data would be best? Using the BSRI & also a personal attributes questionnaire? So we can assess gender using the benefits of both types of data
• • A strength of androgyny is that it's correlated to better psychological health
  • 100 married females in India were tested based on masculinity and feminity and their mental health by Prakash et Al
  • They used the personal aspect scale to measure masculinity/feminity
  • They found that more masculine females had a better mental health (e.g. lower depression levels) compared to women with more feminine traits who had a higher depression score
  • This supports the idea 💡 gender freedom has a positive impact on mental health
• • Research suggests children should be raised gender neutrally, however, children who are raised this way are often seen unhealthy, despite it being associated as more healthy
  • A British couple in 2012 raised their son gender neutral and he didn't identify specially male or female, but knew he was biologically a boy
  • This led to protests accusing parents of child abuse, many people strongly felt sex-role stereotypes should be given to children
  • Showing even if people agree with androgyny, many others don't, making it controversial, limiting benefits as it causes upset
• • A limitation of the BSRI is that it's based on self-reports and people understanding their own personalality & behaviours, many people struggle with this
  • Further, gender is a social construct so it is completely subjective to each individual.
  • And, a 7 point scale is difficult to objectively apply (e.g. someone may think 5 is high, whereas others class it in the middle)
  • This limits the BSRI in being able to assess masculinity and feminity and androgyny as it's very subjective per each individual, reducing the validity