Psychological Androgyny

Androgyny is the co-existence of masculine and feminine characteristics.

Psychological Androgyny

Dr Sandra Bem, who invented the sex role inventory (BSRI), introduced the idea of psychological androgyny for individuals who combined both masculine and feminine psychological traits.

Using the BSRI Bem found that 34% of male participants and 27% of female participants were androgynous.

Bem and other researchers such as Flaherty and Dusek (1980) found that androgynous participants were more adaptable in different situations, have a higher self esteem and a greater sense of emotional well being.

Bem believed Androgyny leads to:

1. Greater flexibility

2. Better psychological adjustment

Greater Flexibility

Bem (1975) found that masculine and androgynous individuals showed lower levels of conformity than feminine women when judging humour in cartoons alongside someone ridiculing their choices.

Better psychological adjustment

The link between androgyny and better adjustment may be explained in terms of what the masculine and feminine scales in Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (BSRI).

An individual who identifies themselves as high in confidence, assertiveness and other masculine traits will also score high on self esteem. Therefore women who score high on femininity are bound to score low on self esteem.

Whitley (1988) found support for this.

Androgynous individuals have been found to have Higher self-esteem

(Lundy & Rosenberg, 1987; Shaw, 1983),

There are costs involved in the maintenance of gender role stereotypes. These costs included limiting

opportunities for boys and girls, ignoring talent, and perpetuating unfairness in our society.

Bem felt that it was best to be androgynous, as one could be more adaptable to the demands of modern life.

For Bem, psychological androgyny means taking on whichever quality best fitted the

situation – whether it was masculine or feminine.

It is more adaptive than stereotyped gender identities.

"The concept of psychological androgyny implies that it is possible for an individual to be both compassionate and assertive, both expressive and instrumental, both feminine and masculine, depending upon the situational appropriateness of these various modalities. And it further implies that an individual may even blend these complementary modalities in a single act, such as the ability to fire an employee, if the circumstances warrant it, but with sensitivity for the human emotion that such an act inevitably produces."

--Sandra Bem, Bem Sex Role Inventory Manual

The 1980s saw the rise of androgynous musicians such Bowie, Boy George,

Annie Lennox and Prince

Witt (1997) also suggests that an androgynous gender role orientation may be more beneficial to children than strict adherence to traditional

gender roles as it opens up more opportunities.

Families with one or more androgynous parent have been found to be highest on scores of parental warmth and support.

These androgynous parents are found to be highly encouraging regarding achievement and developing a sense of self worth in sons and daughters.

(Sedney, 1987)

Norlander & Erixon (2000) studied psychological androgyny and creativity and the dynamics of gender-role and personality trait. The androgynic group scored significantly higher than the stereotypic group with regards to creativity

Behavioural models see androgyny as a behaviour only, a lifestyle choice that is rewarding (Orlofsky, 1977)

Whereas Olds (1981) suggests that androgyny is an advanced stage of gender development only reached by some people

However Stainton Rogers & Stainton Rogers (2001) found that the dominant theoretical explanation for androgyny is that it is the result of a conscious and deliberate choice made by individuals

http://uniorb.com/RCHECK/RAndrogyny.htm

“What do international celebrities, Michael Jackson, David Beckham, and Angelina Jolie have in common?  Besides being superstars and multi-millionaires, they are the icons of androgyny in our modern culture. As borders blur, markets merge, and cultures blend, androgyny seems to have found its way to global mainstream.”

Diana Lee

March 2005

 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/35324

Article from Psychology Today

‘From George and Lennox to Gaga and Lambert: Androgyny, Creativity and Pop Culture’

“Explicit displays of androgyny are everywhere these days”

“I love Grace Jones and David Bowie because they both played with gender and with what ‘sexy’ means” Lady Gaga 2009

Woodhill and Samuels (2003) criticise Bem. They argue that there must be negative traits to androgyny, because it is a combination of masculinity and femininity and all their positives and negatives.

Androgynous people are sensitive to both masculine and feminine cues and as such may respond to a wider range of positive or negative stimuli than traditional people.

A negatively androgynous person would have a bigger repertoire of undesirable behaviors from which to choose a response.

A negatively androgynous person may, for example, react in an undesirable feminine way in one situation and in an undesirable masculine way in another situation

Such negative behaviour may override any of the positive benefits proposed for the androgynous person

Nevid and Rathus (2005) suggest one challenge to androgyny is the belief that masculinity, not androgyny, accounts for greater self-esteem. They believe that the relationship between psychological androgyny and self-esteem in both men and women is not based on the combination of masculine and feminine traits, but rather on the presence of masculine traits.

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Meta analyses (Bassoff & Glass, 1982, Whitney, 1983) have found a high correlation between masculinity and

psychological adjustment.

Some feminist writers believe that since androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine

personality traits, there is an implied gender-role stereotype. Feminists would like to see these

stereotypes dissolved and people be treated as individuals, not as stereotypes.