androgyny & BSRI

• Androgyny - displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in one’s personality
• Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) - the first systematic attempt to measure androgyny using a rating scale of 60 traits (20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral) to produce scores across two dimensions: masculinity-femininity and androgynous-undifferentiated.
• To develop the scale, 200 personality characteristics were given to 100 judges and they were asked to rate them based on how desirable each was for a male and a female, for example assertiveness was seen as masculine and compassion was feminine.
• the BSRI was piloted by 100 students and the results largely corresponded with the participants' own description of their gender identity, increasing its validity
• the BSRI has been found to have good test-retest reliability because when it was given to a sample of the students twice, similar scores were found when they were tested a month later.
• Using only American students in the 1970s means the BSRI could have limited validity for assessing androgyny in other societies, in all time periods. This shows the BSRI is both culturally and historically biased.
• The BSRI was developed over 40 years ago and behaviours regarded as stereotypically feminine or masculine have changed a lot with our perception of gender. Therefore Bem’s scale lacks temporal validity and may be considered outdated
• Bem assumed that people who are androgynous are more psychologically healthy. This was criticised by Adams and Sherer (1985) who found that people who show a lot of masculine traits are more psychologically healthy. This could be because stereotypically masculine traits are more highly valued in a patriarchal, Western society. This suggests Bem’s research may not have taken adequate account of the social and cultural context in which it was developed
• the BSRI has been accused of oversimplifying a complex concept