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MASCULINE OR FEMININE OR BOTH

MASCULINE OR FEMININE OR BOTH. Presentation by: Alexandra Sansosti AP Psychology period 5/6. Back ground. Masculinity or femininity is use to describe a person’s gender and gender identity.

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MASCULINE OR FEMININE OR BOTH

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  1. MASCULINE OR FEMININE ORBOTH • Presentation by: Alexandra Sansosti • AP Psychology period 5/6

  2. Background • Masculinity or femininity is use to describe a person’s gender and gender identity. • The sex of an individual is biologically determined, but the traits they possess may incorporate both male and female characteristics • Early gender studies concluded that gender should be studied on a one-dimensional scale with masculinity one one end and femininity on the other

  3. Background • Anne Constantinople (1973) • Best way to measure masculinity or femininity is with a two-dimension scale that measures masculine and feminine traits at the same time • More masculine males and more feminine females are psychologically healthier

  4. Background • Sandra Bem (Stanford University) • born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • More balanced people who can embrace both their masculinity and femininity are healthier and happier • Established way to measure gender on a two-dimensional scale • Androgynous- individuals who embrace both masculine and feminine characteristics. • The study was based on the theories and processes Bem used to assess gender: the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI)

  5. Theoretical Propositions • Develop a scale that was actually two separate scales: one to measure masculinity; the other femininity • Her scale was based on perceived traits rather than observed traits • The score of Bem’s androgynous test resulted from finding the difference between the feminine and masculine scores

  6. The Scale • List of characteristics/ traits • Each characteristic could be rated on a scale of one to seven

  7. Bem’sMethod • Item Selection: • List of “masculine” and “feminine” attributes from her perspective and asked 100 Stanford undergraduates to also rate the characteristics. • from those that were rated Bem chose the top 20 for both masculinity and femininity • She also chose some characteristics that were neither considered male nor female(gender neutral) • The final list was 60 items- both masculine and feminine traits were intermixed

  8. ScoringKey • Each item is rated 1-7 (1 being almost never true; 7 being almost always true) • Participants then receive three scores: a masculinity score, a femininity score, and an androgyny score

  9. ScoringKey(cont’d) • The masculinity and femininity scores are calculated as follows: • All of the scores for the masculinity/femininity items are added together and divided by 20 to get the average • Bem determined the androgyny score by subtracting the masculine score from the feminine score • The androgyny score could range from +6 to -6 • Androgyny scores closest to zero represent the most androgyny

  10. Results • Reliability: • Internal consistency was very high- 20 masculine items/ 20 feminine items were measuring only one trait • Bem re-administered the test to about 60 of the original participants a month after the first testing and the scores correlated very highly from both tests.

  11. Results • Validity: • Bem wanted to test to be sure that masculinity and femininity were being measured as different things. • She did so by creating a correlation of both the masculine and feminine scales- this clearly proved the scales were unrelated

  12. Results • To verify that masculine and feminine characteristics were the factors being tested, Bem analyzed the scores for men and women separately • The result that men scored a higher masculinity and women scored a higher femininity was statistically significant

  13. Results • Bem found that a large number of the participants were androgynous. • 35% of Males and 29% of females were determined to be androgynous

  14. SocialEffects • In general, since the beginning of the psychological studies on gender, cultures have become more accepting of androgynous individuals and career paths • Many more women are holding professional positions traditionally reserved for men, and many men are staying at home and raising children. • Gender discrimination and expectation is still a major problem in modern society; men are still expected to be very assertive and women are presumably more emotional and sensitive • The importance of Bem’s research was that it cultivated further research in gender studies

  15. Conclusions/Subsequent Research • Androgynous individuals seem to be more readily adjusted to diverse scenarios and have a higher self-esteem • Also it has been suggested that androgynous individuals have more successful heterosexual relationships because they more easily understand the other person • Recent research has even suggested thatandrogynous individuals are happier and healthier, psychologically.

  16. Conclusions/Subsequent Research • Researchers have argued that androgyny in Bem’s scale suggests more masculinity than an even distribution of masculinity and femininity. • Because masculine traits are often seen as more desirable and feminine traits less desirable by society, people with more masculine traits may be seen as androgynous.

  17. Conclusions/Subsequent Research • This idea has led researchers to modify the scale to four dimensions: Desireable feminine traits. undesirable feminine traits, desireable masculine traits, and undesirable masculine traits • This new modification led to many more potential test results

  18. Conclusions/Subsequent Research • Bem has continued her research in the field in addition to her development of the BSRI • A study in the late 1990s was conducted to determine whether or not the traits Bem has coined as “masculine” or “feminine” were still thought to be so by modern society. • only two of the 60 traits were found to be outdated- “Childlike” and “loyal”- both were feminine on the BSRI, but were found to be androgynous in the 1998 study.

  19. Conclusions/Subsequent Research • The previously noted study was conducted at a Southern US university • When another study was done at Northeastern US university, the results were drastically different: • women said that only 1 of 20 “masculine” traits were more desirable for males; 2 of 20 feminine items were more desirable for women • Men said that only 13 of 20 “masculine” traits were more desirable for men;7 of 20 feminine items were more desirable for women

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