Measuring Androgyny

1974

Sandra Bem (b. 1944)

The term androgynous has been used since the early seventeenth century to refer to people who display the physical and behavioral characteristics ascribed to both males and females. In the context of psychological theory, the androgynous personality was defined and discussed by Sandra Bem in 1974. She proposed that whereas it had been customary for society to view masculinity and femininity as mutually exclusive sets of traits, it is actually possible for people to exhibit both masculine and feminine qualities. Further, she put forth the hypothesis that people with this personality configuration might have more behavioral flexibility than rigidly sex-typed individuals and thus experience better mental health.

She devised the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), published in 1974, as a measure of androgyny. On this instrument, respondents encounter a variety of words to describe traits considered socially desirable for men (e.g., ambitious, analytical, assertive), socially desirable for women (e.g., affectionate, soft-spoken, understanding), and neutral (e.g., conscientious, truthful, friendly). People who endorse an equally high number of both masculine and feminine traits on the BSRI are characterized as androgynous. Bem challenged the conventional wisdom that viewed masculinity and femininity as opposite ends of a continuum; however, her scale was criticized as reinforcing the very constructs of masculinity and femininity she sought to challenge, and researchers who used the scale sometimes had difficulty replicating their findings.

Nonetheless, the theory of psychological androgyny spawned an explosion of empirical studies and helped promote the idea that gender and biological sex are separate categories that need not be completely congruent in healthy individuals.

SEE ALSO Sex Roles (1944), Gender Identity (1963)

An illustration of Ardhanarishvara, an androygenous Hindu figure combining the male god Shiva and his consort, Parvati. The earliest Ardhanarishvara images date to the first century CE, during the Kushan Empire.