Amazons International # 13 -------------------------- Topics: Rev: You know you're an Amazon when.... Bem Sex Role Inventory: The Questionnaire Bem Sex Role Inventory: How to calculate and evaluate ******************************************************************** Welcome to issue # 13 of Amazons International! It contains the Bem Sex Role Questionnaire, as promised, and a great submission from Rev that I wanted to get out as soon as possible -- a great idea for a thread of future submissions I think. As for the Bem Questionnaire, I picked it up from soc.singles about a year ago, when Peter Sellmer posted it there. You should complete the Questionnaire form on your own, without conscious thinking, just jot down the value that feels right (this in order to get down what you are, not what you want to become), and you should do this before you look at the classifications and evaluations part given in part 2. There is a basis for some food for thought in that Questionnaire. You may recall I mentioned some of this in the interview in AI # 11. I have two big exams soon, may 20th and 22nd, in pedagogics, and may be silent for a while. Wish me luck. I'll get back about the video companies after that. - Thomas ******************************************************************** Date: Tue, 5 May 92 10:02:17 PDT From: bsb@crete.unify.com (Beverly Sobelman) Subject: You know you're an Amazon when.... You know you're an Amazon when stuff like this happens to you... ...and you're really pleased about it! Occurrence #1: I'm out hiking with a (male) friend/lover of mine in Yosemite a few weeks ago...I'm wearing fatigues, hiking boots, and a white T-back tank top that (IMHO) shows off my shoulders quite nicely, long brown hair pulled into a pony-tail through the back of my my baseball cap...he's behind me as we hike up a pretty steep stretch. After a few moments of quiet I hear, in tones of approval... "Rev, you look _buff_". Big smile. Occurrence #2: The very next weekend I'm out in SF to go dancing with friends... fatigues have been replaced with a black suede mini-skirt and matching black suede halter top that zips up the front (I love having my arms and back bare, especially when out dancing). I go to the bar of the Oasis, holding up my black leather jacket, and ask the bartender where the coat-check is...he tells me, gesturing toward the back of the dance floor, then does a double-take, hands on hips, and says "My, we are looking _strong_!" Another big smile...and a little flex, for emphasis... All those hours in the gym are really paying off.... :^) -rev [I think this is a great idea for a thread, and I'd welcome further submissions along these lines -- from your own experience if you're an Amazon, or from a friend or something you've seen if you're not, or a fantasy scenario, or a snappy remark, or a commentary about how attitudes toward Amazons are improving, etc. Also, I'd like to add as a personal remark that I find big, fully developed shoulders and arms are very attractive, and a very concrete expression of strength & willpower. Anybody remember Linda Hamilton in _Terminator 2_? The psychology involved here, and in clothing that stresses these aspects, seems to merit an essay or a debate in itself. -- Thomas] ******************************************************************** The Bem Sex-Role Inventory Part 1: The Questionnaire -------------------------- The BSRI is the product of Sandra Lipsitz Bem, who has been interested in researching sex roles since the early '70's. (For a recent paper published by her, see (Bem, 1985)). At the time she started, it was seen as a flaky topic, but today it is taken a lot more seriously. While this retransmission may qualify as a copyright violation, (though it might not, under Canadian copyright laws), I have only the deepest respect for Dr. Bem and the work she is doing, and I reproduce this only because I think she would like more people to think about how sex roles affect them personally, and this is a good tool for doing just that. I don't intend to hurt anybody, and I've seen the BSRI published in enough places (or parts thereof) that I'm certain she has a "take it and use it" attitude. If Dr. Bem is out there in net.land (or anyone around her), please tell me if I've missed the mark. -- Peter Sellmer ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Instructions: On the next screen, you will see a list of personality characteristics. What you do is rate how much these apply to you on a 7 point scale. Generally speaking, first impressions are the most accurate for things like these, so shoot from the hip! An example of the scoring: sly score 1 if you are NEVER OR ALMOST NEVER sly score 2 if you are USUALLY NOT sly score 3 if you are SOMETIMES BUT INFREQUENTLY sly score 4 if you are OCCASIONALLY sly score 5 if you are OFTEN sly score 6 if you are USUALLY sly score 7 if you are ALWAYS OR ALMOST ALWAYS sly Just out of curiosity, rate each item as to how applicable it is to a really desirable MOTAS (we're talking SO grade with NO hesitation) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Never Usually Sometimes Occasionally Often Usually Always True Not True True True True True True self-reliant reliable warm yielding analytical solemn helpful sympathetic willing to take a stand defends own beliefs jealous tender cheerful has leadership abilities friendly moody sensitive to other's needs aggressive independent truthful gullible shy willing to take risks inefficient conscientious understanding acts as a leader athletic secretive childlike affectionate makes decisions easily adaptable theatrical compassionate individualistic assertive sincere doesn't use profanity flatterable self-sufficient unsystematic happy eager to soothe hurt feelings competitive strong personality conceited loves children loyal dominant tactful unpredictable soft-spoken ambitious forceful likable gentle feminine masculine conventional This post is still huge, but the midterm (Psych Research Methods) went OK. I think there are some useful (as in real-life practical) reasons for doing this quiz, so I'll post part 2 a little later. I have some notions about the way the scores will tend to fall out, so I'd be very interested in people mailing me theirs and good SO material's. I'll summarize and post, of course, without naming names. -- Peter Sellmer (peter@watcsc.uwaterloo.ca or psellmer@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca) ******************************************************************** The Bem Sex Role Inventory Part 2: Calculations and Evaluations ------------------------------------ SCORING: Here is the same list of attributes, except each has an indicator (m/f/n) beside it: self-reliant -m reliable -n warm -f yielding -f analytical -m solemn -n helpful -n sympathetic -f willing to take -m defends own beliefs -m jealous -n tender -f cheerful -f has leadership abilities -m friendly -n moody -n sensitive to other's needs -f aggressive -m independent -m truthful -n gullible -f shy -f willing to take risks -m inefficient -n conscientious -n understanding -f acts as a leader -m athletic -m secretive -n childlike -f affectionate -f makes decisions easily -m adaptable -n theatrical -n compassionate -f individualistic -m assertive -m sincere -n doesn't use profanity -f flatterable -f self-sufficient -m unsystematic -n happy -n eager to soothe hurt -f competitive -m strong personality -m conceited -n loves children -f loyal -f dominant -m tactful -n unpredictable -n soft-spoken -f ambitious -m forceful -m likable -n gentle -f feminine -f masculine -m conventional -n Now, the thing to note about the above scheme is that they were all selected by a large (N ~ 1500) sample of college students to be more desirable for the sex listed. That is, this measures how much they line up with our sex role ideas. The actual score is calculated by averaging the scores for male and female attributes, respectively. This gives a male score and a female score. Subtract the male score from the female score to get the androgyny score. The androgyny score can range from -6 (extremely masculine) to +6 (extremely feminine). Watch the sign on this one! :-) Most people tend to score -1 <= AS <= +1, for which a detailed scheme is: +1 < AS : Feminine +0.5 < AS < +1 : near-feminine -0.5 < AS < +0.5 : androgynous -0.5 > AS > -1 : near-masculine -1 < AS : Masculine Discussion, or "That's nice, but what does it mean?" Well, the whole thing tries to get a handle on how close we fit to common sex-role perceptions, while circumventing the idea that somehow men and women are "opposite" sexes. (I dunno, I think we ought to call them dual sexes or something like that). Anyway, the whole thing runs on how we consider some behaviors as more fitting for one sex or another. There are some interesting stats from groups tested by Dr. Bem: Males (N=444) Females (N=279) %feminine 5% 29% %near-feminine 5% 18% %androgynous 44% 39% %near-masculine 16% 8% %masculine 30% 7% Two things strike me about these numbers: 1) the curves are pretty much the same for both sexes, and 2) the sex-role label only sticks to about half the people! In psych terms, this labelling of behaviors by gender just doesn't cut it as far as construct validity goes. With about half the population supporting these notions, it's pretty clear why they are so resistant to change. They sort-of work about half the time, and we use stereotypes (which are cognitive rules-of-thumb / default settings) all the time. We cannot eliminate stereotyping as a cognitive process, but we sure as hell can edit the contents of our stereotypes! I want to get some feedback from some net.folk before I talk about my hunches on what the scores out there are like. References: if you see a citation, and want to check out the original, just quote me the citation (Foobar, 197x), and I'll e-mail you the reference. -- Peter Sellmer (peter@watcsc.uwaterloo.ca or psellmer@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca) ********************************************************* * Amazons International: thomasg@ulrik.uio.no * * Thomas Gramstad, editor * ********************************************************* "A Hard Woman is Good to Find" -- The Valkyries