bdelan@apple.com (Brian Delaney) (09/15/90)
Hi; This is a post I made to alt.sex, in response to a post concerning men getting in touch with their feminine side. I didn't think it fit in there, but I had requests that I do so. I think that it fits in far better here. Tell me if you think I'm wrong. For that matter, just tell me what you think. Begin (Crosspost) ***************************************************** Hi, folks. I mentioned awhile ago that I did a study of the research being done on androgyny. I mentioned that if people were interested, I might type the thing in and post it. Well, much to my chagrin, I received mucho E-mail requesting that I do just that. Since the only version I had was hard copy (my softcopy having been lost literally in the Oct 17th earthquake that Silicon Valley was blessed with), I had a mondo typing job on my hands. Still, I was determined to make good on my word. About 400 lines later I said screw it. No way was I going to mess with this any longer. Since OmniPage doesn't work on a Mac FX, I couldn't even use my OCR software. Besides, even *I* don't want to read more than a few pages of my verbal flatulence. I have no plans of inflicting any more of it on the Net. So, what you see here is what you are going to get. I've split it into two posts, because I've gotten some complaints concerning some hosts truncating posts after about 200 lines. I've tried to include most of the relevant bits, and have indicated where I have left large portions out with a string of periods. What I've ommitted is mostly just endless quotations of other studies coming to basically similar conclusions. I've tried to make this hack job flow, despite the cuts, but the job I've done is a reflection of the current hour of the morning. I have a list of references at the end of the second half. I've tried to make sure that I pared the references down to only those studies I mention in the body of the paper, to reduce confusion, but I may have missed one or two. The citation system I use is the one recognized by the American Psychological Association: alphabetical by researchers last name, with date. tell me what you think. It's a couple of years old, so some of the references may be out-dated. It's bloody long, but the topic is vast, so what do you want? If you must flame, flame gently, I'm tired. ******************************************************************* Androgyny Research Abstract Sex roles in the United States are changing. Behaviors and careers that were formerly the exclusive province of one sex or the other are becoming less differentiated. Most of the political administration and media view this as a positive change. Much of the public seems to feel this way as well, despite occasional resistance on an individual basis. However, the basic question, "Are androgynous sex roles preferable to traditional ones?", has seldom been attacked directly. Indeed, it is frequently taken as a matter of faith. The most common definition of androgyny relies on an understanding of traditional sex roles. It states that androgyny is the blending in one individual those traits traditionally ascribed to only one sex or the other. What those precise traits are varies from culture to culture. (Ravinder. 1987 ) To avoid this confusion, and to avoid the cultural bias carried in terms such as "masculine" and "feminine", the sociological community frequently uses different terminology. The term used to describe traits that are typically assigned to males in the United States is "instrumental." This applies to behaviors and values that are directed at the outside world and objective matters. The term used to describe those traits usually assigned to females in this country is "expressive." This refers to behavior and values that are directed toward social bonds, emotions, and subjective matters. An androgynous sex role model would blend these two sets of behaviors into an individual, irrespective of sex. ( Orlofsky & O'Heron, 1987 ) The problem with this simple definition is that, by use of these terms, people are already androgynous. Western males clearly hold values and exhibit behaviors that inarguably concern social bonds, emotions, and subjective matters. And Western females clearly exhibit significant instrumental traits. Researchers in the field of androgyny maintain that "instrumental" and "expressive" are relative terms, and that their connection to sex is in the preponderance of the values and behaviors exhibited by either gender. In the United Sates, both male and female values include "instrumental" traits, but the male role emphasizes these traits. Likewise, males and females exhibit "expressive" behavior, but the traditional American female role places relatively greater emphasis on it than does the male role It is only in comparison to the traditional female role that the traditional male role may be termed "instrumental." Similarly, traditional female roles are "expressive" only relative to traditional male roles. ( Orlofsky & O'Heron, 1987 ). In order to avoid certain awkward phrases, for the rest of this paper, the term "masculine" will be used to describe that mix of instrumental and expressive traits that are usually ascribed to Western males. "Feminine" will likewise be used to describe that mix of instrumental and expressive traits typically taught to Western females. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Similarly, androgyny is a relative term. "Androgyny" could be defined as the state where all persons exhibit equal amounts of instrumental and expressive traits. However, it could also be defined as a state where there are no observable differences in the values and behaviors taught to people of either sex. If a society teaches all of its members the values and behaviors typically associated with traditional female roles, has that society achieved androgyny? Relative to itself, it has, because the difference between the male and female roles has disappeared. However, relative to another culture, which may have taught all of its members the male role, what it has achieved is not androgyny, but feminization. And, in the eyes of the first culture, the second has achieved not androgyny, but masculinization. A culture which taught the full gamut of instrumental and expressive traits to all of its members would be viewed as excessively masculine or excessively feminine, depending on who was doing the observing. To avoid this cultural relativist quandary, for the rest of this paper, "androgyny" will be used to mean that the traditional American male role is expanded to include traditional American female expressive traits, and vice versa. It is also important to distinguish between androgyny and sex role transcendence. In sex role transcendence, an individual simply acquires the characteristics of the other sex, and largely abandons their own. Thus a female executive, in adopting the traditional male role of "leader" would not qualify as androgynous unless she also displayed the traditional female behavior as well. Something like the difference between homosexuality and bisexuality. There is some evidence to support the claim that, contrary to popular belief, it is sex role transcendence, not androgyny, that is a product of educated, middle class, Western societies. True androgyny is much more prevalent in certain traditional cultures, such as India. ( Ravinder, 1987 ) The question that this author will address is this: Is it preferable that this society encourage androgyny in place of traditional sex roles? ? . . . . . . . . . It is sometimes argued that androgyny is more natural than traditional roles. This view holds that people are naturally androgynous, and that traditional roles are the result of repressing half of an individual's "natural" personality. Some people cite certain primitive and/or pagan cultures as evidence for this view. They point to the existence of androgynous behavior in these groups as evidence of "natural" human behavior. This argument is appealing, but it is dangerous to try to draw any meaningful conclusions from these tribes. As Morris ( 1969 ) points out, the primitive cultures are invariably isolated, poor, stagnant, lacking any external competition, and distinctly out of the mainstream of cultural development. The examples of pagan cultures used to support this view are gone, or maintained only by fringe groups, and the extent to which they were truly androgynous can only be guessed at. These cultures may be examples, not of the essential nature of humanity, but instead of how far wrong a society can go and still survive. For a more recent example, the Victorian Era in England succeeded in creating a society of people with a highly repressed attitude toward sex. This success in no way demonstrates that such an attitude is "natural." Never the less, there is some evidence for the notion that androgyny may be a natural condition for some individuals. A study done at the University of North Carolina ( Baucom, Besch & Callahan; 1985 ) examined the correlation between testosterone levels in women and their sex role identity and personality. After the subjects completed the California Personality Inventory, and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, their testosterone levels were tested from saliva samples. They found that those subjects rated as masculine or androgynous showed notably higher testosterone levels than those rated as feminine or undifferentiated. When the subjects completed the Adjective Check List, it was found that subjects with higher testosterone levels described themselves as self-directed, action-oriented, and resourceful. Subjects with lower testosterone levels described themselves as conventional, socialized individuals, possessing a caring attitude coupled with an anxious and dejected mood. It was also found that testosterone level varied by occupation; lawyers having a high level of testosterone, and child care workers having very low levels. It would thus seem that a tendency to androgynous behavior, at least in women, is coupled to a hormonal variation. There is no evidence that occupation can change the testosterone level in individuals, except for a negative coupling for men and stress. Thus, one may conclude that certain people are genetically predisposed toward androgyny. A society that attempted to repress this would encounter varying sorts of resistance. However, if this hormonal variation is the source of androgynous behavior in women, then the strong correlation between testosterone levels and androgynous behavior would suggest that those people with such an inclination are already behaving in an androgynous fashion. Thus, while a practice of tolerance for androgyny would be advised, it would not be necessary to encourage it. . . . . . . . . Another perspective might ask, "Who cares if it is natural or not?" This view holds that the important issue is whether people are "happier" or "better adjusted" under androgyny. The critical point to this approach, of course, is that we must carefully define what we mean by these terms. One point of consideration is self-esteem. Most studies find a strong correlation between sex role and self-esteem. One study done at the University of Waterloo ( Myers & Finn, 1985 ) found that subjects with a highly masculine sex role had the highest self-esteem. Androgynous individuals had a somewhat lower self-esteem, while those rated as feminine showed still lower, with the undifferentiated group rating lowest of all. Another study done at the University of Santa Clara ( Wilemsen, 1987 ) duplicated these findings. The Willemsen study yielded a few other interesting findings. In men, sexual self-esteem was enhanced by masculinity and depressed by femininity, whereas the reverse was true for women. As might be expected. However, on the theory that social bonding was properly part of the feminine behavior domain, it was predicted that social self-esteem would be positively correlated with femininity. Instead, it was found that social self-esteem was best predicted by a high masculinity score. It was also found that a need for uniqueness was a very important aspect of self-esteem for women, especially androgynous women. It was not a significant aspect of male self-esteem. This raises the question of whether a need to be unique is a significant factor in androgynous behavior for women. On the other hand, its failure to be a significant issue in males may be due to the higher social esteem and status associated with traditional male roles. . . . . . . Relying as it does upon an element of self-description, the use of self-esteem as an indicator may be moderated by a sex-role dependent narcissism. At the University of Tennessee, ( Watson, Taylor & Morris; 1987 ), a study was undertaken to examine this connection between sex role and narcissism. The researchers compared scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory with scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale, along with measures of self-esteem and depression. Contrary to prediction, males and subjects rated as masculine were not found to have a higher incidence of maladaptive narcissism. They further found that a healthy and adjusted narcissism was more obvious in males and masculine subjects. It also developed that femininity seemed to inhibit the obvious display, though not existence, of an unhealthy exploitative self-concern. Androgyny did not appear to be the healthiest sex role, though the researchers acknowledged the need for more study. . . . . . . . . . Another study at Emory University examined the connection between sex role and a tolerance for ambiguity. ( Heilburn, 1894 ) Defined as the degree to which people suspend the attribution of meaning to unclear or ambiguous stimulation; it was found that androgynous females were less tolerant of ambiguity than were females rating as feminine. Tolerance for ambiguity in males was, in general, higher than in females, and showed no difference between masculine, and androgynous males. However, Heilburn also included a Chapin Social Insight Test, a test of the ability to read facial expressions, to one of the test groups. It found that a combination of a low tolerance for ambiguity, and androgyny, correlated to an enhanced ability to read facial expressions and to apply this information to social situations. This correlation was particularly strong for androgynous women. No mechanism for this correlation was suggested. One can easily imagine situations where an enhanced ability to read facial expressions would be an advantage. It is less clear how a reduced tolerance for ambiguity would be beneficial. . . . . . . . . . . . . One situation where the enhanced ability to read facial expressions would be helpful is in the business world. But, this realm is very complex. For instance, Kushell and Newton (1986 ) found that the leadership style exhibited by androgynous managers produced more satisfied subordinates. However, the study simply assumed that happier workers are more productive. A study done by Ikhlas Abdalla ( 1987 ) found that androgynous leaders do indeed produce the most satisfied sub-ordinates, but only in very special industries, such as public service industries, or where the majority of the sub-ordinates are female. It was also found that while androgynous leaders were better liked in these specific circumstances, the average productivity in these groups was somewhat lower than in those managed by more masculine managers. Another study ( Porter, Geis & Cooper, 1985 ) did not confirm this finding. Instead, it was found that while androgynous managers are about equal to more masculine individuals in management skills, it appears that androgynous people make poorer followers. It found that a better predictor of group productivity was the sex role orientation, not of the manager, but of the sub-ordinates. Neither masculine, feminine, not androgynous managers were able to get the productivity of largely androgynous work groups top match that of more traditionally differentiated groups. . . . . . . . . . . . Given the very high concentration of men in our prisons, it is tempting to examine the connection between sex role and crime. A study done at Louisiana State University ( Campbell, MacKenzie & Robinson; 1987 ), examined 141 incarcerated adult female offenders. It was found that those inmates testing as masculine or feminine were more likely to be incarcerated for a violent crime, such as murder, than were women rating as androgynous. Furthermore, women with a masculine sex role orientation were far more likely to be multiple offenders than were feminine or androgynous women. However, if the Baucom, Besch, and Callahan study on sex role and testosterone level is reliable, then it may develop that this behavior is largely hormonal in origin. If this is true, than encouraging androgyny may not affect these behaviors. *************************************** end part 1 *************************************************************************** Brian "High Tech Sex and Affordable Firepower" Delaney Disclaimer: NOBODY, least of all Apple, thinks the way I do. ***************************************************************************