From: nelson@berlioz.nsc.com (Taed Nelson)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: The BEM Test
Date: 6 Jan 1993 03:35:53 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu

[This is based on an email discussion between Lenore Levine and myself.]

> On the back of scratch paper from a campus recycling area, I found a
> psychological test called the Bem Sex Role Inventory. This test lists
> sixty adjectives that refer to human beings, some "masculine," some
> "feminine," and some neutral...

I am reasonably familiar with this "test", having taken a class from Sandy Bem
  (Psychology of Sex Roles) and another from her husband, Daryl Bem
  (Personality Psych).  I assure you that neither person is "politically
  incorrect" in the way one might suspect from the original posting.

Sandy Bem was the person who first did the excellent experiment showing that
  at 2 months old (a point where babies don't do much, much less show social
  differentiation based on gender), it is the parents and other adults that
  force the sex roles upon them.

They are even going so far as to raise their children androgynously (which
  lead to a lot of good stories due to interaction with other people -- I had
  one of them on rec.humor.funny a few years ago, and I reproduce it below).

The basis of the "test", if I recall, was based on perception of a number of
  people (ie, the first set of subjects would match each trait with Feminine,
  Masculine, Neither, or Both), and then the most discriminating
  characteristics were placed on the Bem Sex Role Inventory.  Thus, the "test"
  measures how YOU feel you conform to what SOCIETY feels about each sex role.
  Her perceptions don't enter into the test at any point.  I still have the
  paper on it, so I could send it to you if you're interested...

> By the way, I wonder if they're aware how Anglo-Saxon oriented
> this test is?

Just about everything done in the United States is "Anglo-Saxon oriented".

Her original sample to get the discriminating traits was probably about 200
  students in one of her psychology classes -- thus, it would also be biased
  toward rich, educated, white, young Californians -- since I think she did
  that study at Stanford (she's now at Cornell).

There's a saying in the field -- "Psychology is the study of undergraduate
  college students."  This occurs since that sample is _so easy_ to get (due
  to the professors teaching the classes are able to essentially require the
  students to be subjects).

If anyone is really interested, I could send you the paper -- just send me
  your work address.  But now for the story...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was told to me by both Sandy and Darryl Bem, both of whom are Psychology
Professors at Cornell University.

The Bems, being well-versed in the area of sex roles and psychology, had
decided to raise their children androgynously.  This included not only the
typical male-toy/female-toy aspects, but they were also very careful not to
impose any of their own learned sex role socialization upon their children.
For example, a frequent phrase was "the only difference between a male and
female is that a male has a penis and a female has a vagina."  When the
parents were asked whether a person that the child could see was male or
female, they would reply (even if the parents could tell which it was), "I
don't know, dear, they have pants on, so we can't see if they are male or
female."

One day, their son (then in Kindergarten) decided that he wanted to wear
hair barrettes to school.  Sandy and Darryl, of course, acquiesced and put
barrettes in his hair.

That night, they got a phone call from his teacher (who knew about the Bems'
rearing plan), who related the following story:

Upon arriving at school, another boy came up to their son and asked why he was
wearing barrettes in his hair.  Little Bem replied, "Because I felt like it."
The other boy was visibly upset at this, but walked away.

A little while later, the boy comes back and says, "Why are you wearing
barrettes in your hair?  Only _girls_ wear barrettes;  you must be a girl."
Bem, true to his upbringing, replies, "I am not a girl;  I have a penis and
testicles, girls have a vagina."  The boy once again walks away.

During recess, the boy comes back once again, and _insists_ that Bem is a girl
because he is wearing barrettes.  Once again, "The only difference between
boys and girls is that boys have a penis and testicles and girls have a
vagina."

The little boy exclaims, "You _must_ be a girl; you're wearing barrettes."
But Bem replies, "I'm a boy;  I have a penis and testicles.  Look -- I'll show
you!"  At this point, the young Bem pulls down his pants to prove that he has
a penis and testicles...

The boy replies, "Everybody has one of those, but only girls wear barrettes."

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