'Masculinity-Femininity: An Exception to a Famous Dictum?'

Abstract

The major tests of masculinity-femininity (M-F) in adults are reviewed with special attention to the ways in which their construction and use reflect three untested assumptions about the nature of the M-F construct: (a) that it is best defined in terms of sex differences in item responses; (b) that it is a single bipolar dimension ranging from extreme masculinity at one end to extreme femininity at the other; and (c) that it is unidimensional in nature and can be adequately measured by a single score. Evidence which questions the validity of these assumptions and, therefore, of the tests of M-F is presented, with the conclusion that further theoretical and empirical work is necessary in all aspects of the problem.