Here is the link for the Bem Sex Role Inventory referred to in the Macho article from Week 3. This one is cool because it will score for you--which categories "seem" masculine, feminine, neutral? Who decided? This was created in 1971 (the inventory itself)--do you think it would measure differently if created today?
More about BSRI (lots of ads in the article but it's informative and accessible).
How did you score? Do you think it's accurate? Are these categories even measurable?
I scored 68.333/100 masculine points, 65.833/100 feminine points, and 63.158/100 androgynous/neutral points. I'd say it's somewhat accurate -- I've always appreciated femininity in terms of outward appearance (dresses, makeup, etc.) but don't consider certain traits inherently "feminine" (i.e. I'm really thoughtful, compassionate, like to help others, etc. -- but I associate that with just being a kind person and has nothing to do with the fact that I was born a female and identify as a woman). There are also other things, however, like being aggresive that I checked "often" for because I can be controlling at times, have absurd road rage, curse like a sailor, etc. In terms of whether these categories are measurable, I think the problem is that it assumes certain traits are always linked with masculinity which continues to assert that certain characteristics are inherently linked to one's sex, so I'm pretty iffy on this.
ReplyDeleteThere's another site that determines whether you're a man or woman based on a writing sample or a blog post or something. I was thinking of it last night when you mentioned this, so I'll have to look for it and post a link.