The Androgynous Personality INTRODUCTION This research examines the

Throughout history, the term androgyny has been used "to denote any blurring or blending of the distinctions between the sexes" (Cook, 1987, p. 471). Androgyny is used, thus, to denote: (1) biological sexhermaphroditism (Kaplan, & Sedney, 1980); (2) dress styles (Cook, 1987); (3) careers not dominated by a single sex (Cook, 1987); (4) societies characterized by political and economic equality between the sexes (Cook, 1987);(5) gender identity"an awareness and comfort with one's biological sex" (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); sexual orientation "choice of sexual partner," which, when androgynous, refers to bisexuality (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); (6) social sex role, which refers to "the social role one chooses, such as wife, mother, and/or paid worker" (Sedney, 1987, p. 312); and (7) psychological sex role (Kaplan, & Sedney, 1980), which is defined in terms of "similarities and differences among individuals

2according to the degree to which they or others describe themselves in terms of personality characteristics traditionally associated with men (masculine) and those associated with women (feminine)" (Cook, 1987, p. 471), and whi

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ts and behaviors develop" (Sedney, 1987, p. 313). These traditional theories "concentrate on childhood, particularly the preschool years, and seem to lose interest once girls have learned to be feminine and boys to be masculine" (Sedney, 1987, p. 313). Traditional theories appear to assume that development of psychological sex roles is completed at some point in early childhood (Sedney, 1987). 4 Recent developmental perspectives, however, "emphasize that development is a lifelong interaction between an individual and the environment, influenced by complex biological, psychological, historical, and social factors" (Rogers, 1984, p. 516). Recent research has found that sex role adaptation occurs over time throughout life (Cook, 1987). These findings require a reevaluation of the effect of parental influence on psychological sex role development. Even in childhood, the effect of parental influence on sex role development has been challenged (Sedney, 1987). Where traditional theory "suggest that parents play a major and immediate role in psychological sexrole development" (Sedney, 1987, p. 315), recent research implies that internal developmental factors play a more important role (Block, 1984). Obviously, if psych
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