Where Do You Fit on the Androgynous People Scale?
Are you masculine? Are you feminine? Or are you one of the androgynous people?
Androgynous people do not exhibit either male or female characteristics predominantly. (PhotoXpress)
The term androgyny is derived from the Greek language (andros, meaning man, gyne meaning woman) and it defines a combination of male and female characteristics in a person.
Researching androgynous people
Research on androgyny was carried out on the basis of traditional knowledge of roles and men’s and women’s traits that were based on the supposition that a person is more masculine if he or she has less feminine characteristics and vice versa. Unfortunately, human beings are not so simple to be framed in such an easy way of thinking and formulas, and many members of the stronger sex can therefore have a lot of feminine interests and skills, although they are very masculine in certain areas. And the opposite goes for the members of the weaker sex. In a way, only androgynous people exist, however most lean more or less to either end of the male-female spectrum.
Science behind androgynous people
Psychologist Sandra Bem carried out extensive research of the term androgyny and the characterisations of androgenic people. The result of her work was an interesting test, called Bem Sex Role Inventory or BSRI, which measures the degree of personality androgyny. The test included 20 typical masculine personality traits, such as: “aggressive”, “ambitious”, “prepared to take risks” etc., and 20 typically feminine personality traits: “expressing emotions”, “submissiveness”, “love for children” etc., and finally 20 neutral traits, such as: “happy”.
Everybody among the people surveyed did both tests that also included the neutral questions. The results of masculinity were achieved by the average result of typically masculine traits, and the results of femininity were achieved by the average of feminine traits. According to the results of the study, one third of the participants turned out to be mostly androgynous people.
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