Mistaken Identity: Episodes 178-182

More United frequent flyer info has come for whichever Other Me flies United.

California Other Me has apparently just moved into an Irvine Company Apartment Community. How delightful for her.

Washington Other Me has gotten a great offer from Wildside Wine in Tacoma for an Iberian Weekend of wine tasting, even if I’m not interested in their Midweek South African or Beat the Heat sales.

Best of all, Australian Other Me is doing a group school project. While I normally redact names, these are too gorgeously Dickensian and improbable to let them go. So to make it up to them, I’ve done their homework.

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From: Leonie Dubbelman
To: Noelle Dreves, Rebecca Buttenshaw
Subject: Social psychology group work urgent

Hi everyone

Have not heard from any of you regarding this weeks group work. There are four questions and five members in the group, my suggestion is that we each answer one question and then collaborate our answers. Maybe Noelle can answer question one, Bec question two, Kristy question three and I will answer question four, Sarah can add her thoughts when we put it all together and next time we switch the questions that each person answers. If anyone has a better idea or has any completed any work, please contact me ASAP. Additionally we should get together before class tomorrow to discuss our answers. I am sorry if I am coming across of bossy.

Kind regards

Leonie

Noelle
(1) The sample items in Table 1 were selected over three decades ago. Do you think that these items are still applicable today or are some of them dated and perhaps even controversial? Have notions of masculinity and femininity changed over time? Explain.

Notions of masculinity and femininity not only change over time, they change moment to moment. Evidence whether I am pleased at a gentleman’s holding a door open for me to walk through, or incensed at a drunk in a bar calling the waitress “honey”. On top of which, apart from whatever the items in the table are, notions of masculinity and femininity are in themselves controversial.

Rebecca
(2) The Bem Self-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a self-report inventory. Do you think that the way someone describes his or her characteristics on paper is necessarily an accurate portrayal of the way he or she really acts? In what way? How could you test this possibility?

No, I don’t think a self-report is necessarily accurate. We all lie to each other and to ourselves pretty often, whether we intend to or not. I guess if you asked the person, the person that loved them most, and the person that hated them most, maybe between those three sets of answers you might start to get a handle on the truth.

Kristy
(3) What do you think of the concept of androgyny? Would society be better off if more people were androgynous rather than being either masculine or feminine? Why?

Since I’m playing college, I’ll go all quasi-philosophical and say that I think most of society already is somewhat androgynous, not only because culture seems to go that way the further along we go, but also because I don’t think you can really be masculine or feminine without being at least a bit androgynous. I’d argue that unless you have a bit of the contrast in you, the majority element isn’t shown to its best advantage.

Leonie
(4) Based on the information in the article, describe specific situations where an androgynous individual might be better suited than either a masculine or feminine individual. In what, if any, situations would someone only capable of masculine behaviours be more appropriate? What about someone only capable of feminine behaviours? Explain.

Where androgyny makes things easier: wearing jumpsuits, getting through the lines in public bathrooms, and finding good stuff on the clearance racks at the Gap.

Where masculinity makes things easier: shaving the face, relieving oneself in the woods, and watching “Field of Dreams”.

Where femininity makes things easier: getting out of speeding tickets, picking up a teddy bear in a shop, and admitting to buying shirts that complement one’s eyes.