MASCULINE FEMALE

Androgyny, Masculinization

By mixing the notions of gender and sex this term 'masculine female' identifies those of the female sex who demonstrate features of the masculine gender.

Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles 
Christine Kawakami, Judith B. White & Ellen J. Langer 
Journal of Social Issues, Volume 56 Issue 1 Page 49 - Spring 2000 Volume 56 Issue 1 
Despite gains in women's status, successful leaders are more likely to be men than women. The styles that successful leaders set tend to be masculine. Female leaders face a paradox: If they emulate a masculine leadership style, their male subordinates will dislike them. If they adopt a stereotypically warmand nurturing feminine style, they will be liked, but not respected. Two experiments found that female leaders who are mindful can escape this paradox. In an experiment, college-aged men perceived a woman who was masculine and mindful to be a better leader than a woman who was masculine and mindless. A second experiment replicated that result with middle-aged businessmen. - blackwell-synergy.com

Deviations from Conventional Sex-Role Behavior: Effect of Perceivers' Sex-Role Attitudes on Attraction - Deborah Richardson, Sandy Bernstein, Clyde Hendrick
Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 1980, Vol. 1, No. 4, Pages 351-355
Abstract: Eighty research participants who were either traditional or nontraditional in their attitudes toward women rated their attraction toward male or female stimulus strangers who were either masculine or feminine in expressed sex-role preferences. Results replicated previous findings of a preference for stimulus persons who express "appropriate" sex-role interests, with feminine males being rated most negatively. However, as predicted, this effect was moderated by the attitudes toward women held by the research participants. Traditional participants showed a strong attraction preference for masculine male and feminine female strangers, but nontraditional participants were relatively nondiscriminating in their preferences. As attitudes slowly shift in a more egalitarian direction, individuals should become less constrained by current sex-role stereotypes. However, in view of the fact that all participants showed some degree of relative dislike for feminine males on all measures, freedom of role expression may remain more difficult for males than for females. - leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15324834basp0104_6

Is it Sex or Personality? - The Impact of Sex-Stereotypes on Discrimination in Applicant Selection - Doris Weichselbaumer, Department of Economics, University of Linz
Abstract: This paper investigates, whether differential treatment of men and women in the labor market is due to unobservable differences in productivity or if it is motivated by a taste for discrimination. While studies on sex-discrimination typically control for human capital, there is usually no information on personal traits available. We argue, personality might affect productivity just as human capital. To gather the necessary data a field experiment is conducted: Job applications of candidates, who are equivalent in their human capital but differ in sex and indicated personality are sent out in response to job advertisements. We find minor indicators, that signaling a masculine personality might reduce unfavorable treatment of women, nevertheless discrimination prevails even after controlling for personal characteristics.
Extract: The goal of this paper is the following: If drawing on sex-stereotypes in a situation of incomplete information is responsible for women’s unfavorable treatment in the labor market, this disadvantage should disappear when a female applicant reveals her masculinity. This is tested by comparing the labor market outcomes of man and a masculine women, who are not only matched in terms of human capital, but even in personality. If they are treated differently although their expected productivity is identical, than discrimination has been identified undeniably.
"Detailed application material was constructed for three candidates of identical human capital: a male, a masculine female and a feminine female. The gender identity was manipulated by indicators such as hobbies and photographs. According to a pretest all three applicants were perceived as equally social desirable, while the "feminine female" was perceived to possess less masculine but more feminine traits than the other two.
The "masculine female" and the male candidate only differed with respect to sex."
"Since the male and the masculine female are equivalent in all possibly productive characteristics (human capital and personality), they should be treated the same. If one of the two was invited to an interview but the other was not this was attributed to discrimination."
"If personality matters, then - absent of discrimination - the relative success of the feminine female should depend on the sex stereotype of an occupation: In traditionally female professions femininity is particularly acknowledged, consequently the feminine female should be most successful while the other two should fare less but equally well. In traditionally male professions „masculinity“ is highly valued, so we expect the feminine woman to be the least successful, while the male and masculine female are treated equally favorably.
Results: The experimentally gained data is presented to give a systematic comparison of the successrates of different applicants (m = male, mf = masculine female, ff = feminine female) for the different tested occupations.
Masculine occupations: As was argued, the masculine female, who proves to obtain the required masculine characteristics, should be treated like the male applicant, while the feminine female should fare less successful since she does not provide these traits. Her unfavorable treatment would base on a profit-maximizing decision and could not be assigned to discrimination."

SEX AND DELINQUENCY - A PARTIAL TEST OF THE MASCULINITY HYPOTHESIS - Journal: CRIMINOLOGY Volume:17 Issue:3 Dated:(NOVEMBER 1979)
F T CULLEN ; K M GOLDEN ; J B CULLEN 
Corporate Author: Sage Publications, Inc United States 
Annotation: THIS RESEARCH TESTS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ATTITUDES ASSOCIATED WITH MALE STATUS OR MASCULINITY CONTRIBUTE TO CRIMINAL DELINQUENT INVOLVEMENT, AND THAT A MORE MASCULINE FEMALE WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO ENGAGE IN CRIME. 
Abstract: DESPITE THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THIS MASCULINITY HYPOTHESIS APPEARS, IT HAS RECEIVED FEW EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENTS AND THOSE THAT DO EXIST ARE LIMITED. TYPICALLY, SUCH RESEARCH UTILIZES GROUP-LEVEL DATA TO MAKE INFERENCES ABOUT INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. IN CONTRAST, THIS STUDY OF SELF-REPORTED INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR PRESENTS A PRELIMINARY BUT ADEQUATE EMPIRICAL TEST OF A COMPONENT OF THE MASCULINITY PROPOSITION. A NONRANDOM SAMPLE OF 182 SUBJECTS WHOSE MEAN AGE WAS 18.8 WAS DRAWN FROM STUDENTS ATTENDING A MIDWESTERN UNIVERSITY. INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL DATA WAS USED TO TEST THE MASCULINITY PROPOSITION. RESULTS SUPPORTED THE MASCULINITY HYPOTHESIS: INDEPENDENT OF GENDER, MALE TRAITS APPEARED TO CONTRIBUTE TO DELINQUENT INVOLVEMENT. MOREOVER, EVEN INDEPENDENT OF MALE TRAITS, MALES WERE STILL FOUND MORE LIKELY TO ENGAGE IN DELINQUENCY THAN FEMALES. THUS, WHILE TRADITIONAL MALE TRAITS DO LEAD TO INCREASED DELINQUENCY FOR BOTH SEXES, THE PERSISTENT EFFECT OF SEX ON DELINQUENCY SUGGESTS THAT OTHER UNMEASURED STRUCTURAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH GENDER LEAD MEN TO ENGAGE IN MORE DELINQUENCY THAN DO WOMEN. NOTES AND REFERENCES ARE GIVEN.