Sandra Bem

Sandra Bem
Born	June 22, 1944 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died	May 20, 2014(2014-05-20) (aged 69) Ithaca, New York
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan
Known for	gender schema theory, Bem Sex Role Inventory
Scientific career
Fields	Psychology
Institutions	Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, Cornell University

Sandra Ruth Lipsitz Bem (June 22, 1944 – May 20, 2014) was an American psychologist known for her works in androgyny and gender studies. Her pioneering work on gender roles and gender stereotypes led directly to more equal employment opportunities for women in the United States.

Influences on the field of psychology

Bem was an American psychologist known for her works in androgyny and gender studies. Bem and her husband Daryl Bem took the public by storm with their revolutionary concept of egalitarian marriage. The husband-wife team became highly demanded as speakers on the negative impacts of sex role stereotypes on individuals and society. At the time, there was a lack of empirical evidence to support their assertions because this was uncharted territory, and so Sandra Bem became very interested and determined to gather data that would support the detrimental and limiting effects of traditional sex roles. In her early career, she was heavily involved in women's liberation movement, and she did work on sex-biased job advertising. Her involvement lead to being a contributor to landmark cases concerning recruitment of women in the work force against companies such as AT&T and the Pittsburgh Press.

Early on in Sandra's career she created the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), which is an inventory that acknowledges that individuals may exhibit both male and female characteristics. The BSRI is a scale developed to tell what kind of sex role an individual fulfills. It is a self-report inventory that asks participants how well 60 different attributes describe themselves by using a seven-point scale. These attributes reflect the definition of masculinity (20 questions) and femininity (20 questions), and the remaining 20 questions were merely filler questions (Bem, 1993). In this inventory the feminine and masculine items were chosen on what was culturally appropriate for males and females at that time in the early 1970s. The BSRI was later used to measure psychological flexibility and behavioral indicators. Bem also developed the gender schema theory. This theory states that an individual uses gender as a way to organize various things in a person's life into categories. Her research questioned the social beliefs and assumptions that sex roles are opposite, bipolar, and mutually exclusive. The data she collected were supportive of a merging of male and female traits to enable a person to be a fully functioning, adaptive human over an emphasis on gender stereotypes.

She asserted that masculine and feminine dimensions could be divided into two spheres, rather than one: A person with high masculine and low feminine identification would be categorized as "masculine". A person with high feminine identification and low masculine identification, would be categorized as "feminine". A person who had high identification with both characteristics would be categorized as "androgynous". A person who has low identification with both dimensions would be considered "undifferentiated".

One of Bem's main arguments was that traditional gender roles are restrictive for both men and women, and can have negative consequences for individuals as well as society as a whole.

Sandra's book, Lenses of Gender, looks at masculinity and femininity in-depth. She begins by stating western society's three main beliefs concerning men and women. Included are: "That they have fundamentally different psychological and sexual natures, that men are inherently the dominant or superior sex, and that both male-female difference and male dominance are natural". She believes that at one time, people saw this way of thinking as being created by God but now it is seen as a natural evolution of humans. These ideas, according to Bem, shape our everyday lives. She states:

„The purpose of this book is to render those lenses visible rather than invisible, to enable us to look at the culture's gender lenses rather than through them, for it is only when Americans apprehend the more subtle and systemic ways in which the culture reproduces male power that they will finally comprehend the unfinished business of the feminists agenda.“

Bem sections the book into three parts, 'androcentrism', 'gender polarization', and 'biological essentialism'. The first lens, "androcentrism", is stated as "male-centeredness" because it simply describes how society is structured. Men's experiences are seen as the norm and women's experiences as not the norm. This does not necessarily mean that he is superior to her, but simply that "man is treated as human and woman as "other". "Gender Polarization", which is the next lens simply uses the differences in men and women to structure society. The masculine way of doing something is usually seen as the correct way. The final lens is called "biological essentialism", which views the other two lens as natural because of biological differences. This seems to influence our culture the most with the argument that men and women are biologically different sexually, then they must play different roles in life. She views the previous three lenses as creating power in the following ways: The social structure that is created as a result of these beliefs separate men and women unequally. Second, the lenses are taught through socialization creating an individual who continues to reinforce them while living by them.

Social context

To fully appreciate Sandra Bem’s role in psychology, it is important to understand the context in which she was working. Today, egalitarianism is not a new concept because more women have been stepping up and demanding the respect and value they deserve. During Bem’s time in the 1960s and 70s, “sexism” was not a word that existed yet, and women were expected to follow the expectations of their gender: agreeable, kind, supportive, domestic, and setting aside everything for the husband to take center stage. However, the beliefs were not only how it should be, but there was widespread opinion that these traditional sex roles were innate and unchangeable. Women liked the idea of equality, but Bem was repeatedly told that she would be unable to uphold her ideal of egalitarianism once she had children. She was challenging not only the norms surrounding her immediate life, but also the norms surrounding society’s values, interactions, and beliefs and permeating the fabric of people’s lives. In addition, she was working in a university setting dominated by white men – not in a ring of liberal women bent on busting through the patriarchy. She was alone, with the support of her partner, Daryl, giving her the strength to push forward and head the movement she had helped establish. There is an incredible amount of pressure and anxiety surrounding a situation in which one person is standing against a system. At that time, another obstacle for women in university was the lack of open advertising for jobs that exists today. All positions were filled through the "old-boy network," where a trusted colleague would be called upon for recommendations for graduating doctorates. This enabled all ends of discrimination against women for university positions.

Awards and honors

Sandra Bem received many awards for her research. Her first was the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career contribution to Psychology in 1976.

In Women In Psychology: A Biographic Sourcebook, Sandra Bem was recognized for her research in personalities. It states:

For her studies of sex roles, androgyny, and the ontogeny of psychosexual identity and maturity. She has both clarified and questioned long-held assumptions about the oppositional or bipolar nature of sex roles, and persuasively put forward a concept of psychological androgyny. These analytic and logical endeavors have been buttressed by the accumulation of an impressive amount of empirical data to support the hypothesis that a blending of so-called masculine and feminine dispositions is more adaptive than stereotypic emphasis on either alone. These findings are leading her to a fundamental reexamination of the psychological, philosophical, and ego-integrative implications of sex role conflicts and resolutions.

In 1977 she was awarded the Distinguished Publication Award of the Association of Women in Psychology and in 1980 she received the Young Scholar Award of the American Association of University Women (Makosky, 1990). In 1995, she was selected as an “Eminent Woman in Psychology” by the Divisions of General Psychology and History of Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Critics of Bem's work generally argued against the political nature of her theories and her objectivity in the material which she studied.

Education and career

Bem attended Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, (1961-1965) and majored in psychology. She recalls the head of the counseling center, Bob Morgan, encouraging her to study to become a psychiatrist. This was the first time such a high-status career had ever been suggested to her. This likely reinforced her beliefs and motivations to strive for what she wanted, regardless of her gender, even though she did not ultimately become a psychiatrist. Subsequently, she entered the University of Michigan in 1965 and obtained her Ph.D. in developmental psychology in 1968. Her dissertation focused primarily on cognitive processing and problem solving with young children. Her main influence while at the University of Michigan was experimental psychologist David Birch. Her early work focused on the behavior of young children and their ability to solve problems, and utilize self-control and instruction.

After obtaining her Ph.D., Bem got a full-time tenure-track position as a professor at Carnegie-Mellon for three years and then moved on to work at Stanford University, where she worked until 1978. She left Stanford University because her application for tenure was denied. She and husband Daryl Bem both took tenured teaching positions at Cornell University in 1978, where she became a psychology professor and the director of the women's studies program. While at Cornell, Bem focused research on gender schema theory, sexuality, and clinical psychology until she retired in 2010.

Personal life

Bem was born June 22, 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Peter and Lillian Lipsitz. She grew up in a "working class" family with one younger sister, Beverly. Both of Bem’s parents worked throughout her life, so she grew up with the assumption that she would always be working. Her mother instilled great morals in her daughter and encouraged her to be the absolute best that she could be, and that “being just a housewife was not very desirable.”

Bem's first career goal was to be a secretary like her mother, so that she could have her own phone and desk – symbols of autonomy and status that her father never had. Bem was raised by her Jewish "working class" parents in a government-subsidized neighborhood for the first eight years of her life. During Bem's childhood, her mother would have violent outburst and fights with her father causing her family much distress. Her mother was the dominant figure in her parents’ relationship, and Bem recalls having a very tumultuous childhood, during which Mrs. Lipsitz would become extremely emotional while upset and throw objects during arguments. Bem also stated that she was quite unsuccessful in her attempts at flirting and dating with males, and so she internalized a belief that no man would ever want to marry her, which helped to solidify her career ambitions.

Bem did eventually get married, to Daryl Bem, also a psychology professor. The two met when she took his social psychology class at Carnegie-Mellon University. She was 20 years old at the time. She initially rejected his marriage proposal, having concerns about her own career. During that time, the expectation of the wife upon marriage was to stay at home, take care of the house, raise their kids, and fully embrace her domain of domesticity. Any hope of a working career was gone and to pursue one while married would be extremely inappropriate, unconventional, and a blatant disregard for her duties as a wife. When Bem expressed these concerns to her beau, he chose to honor them by promising to create a plan that would work for the both of them. An egalitarian marriage was a novel concept for the time, and they agreed to share in making decisions, doing household chores, supporting each other's careers, and performing parenting duties — all as equally as possible. With this in place, she consented to the marriage. After months of dating, the two were married on June 6, 1965. Much of Bem's family, including her mother, would not attend the wedding because it was a non-Jewish affair and they did not agree with this decision.

The Bems would go on to have two children together. They also had a grandson, Felix Viksne Bem (son of daughter Emily). While they eventually chose to live separately, they remained married until Sandra's death on May 20, 2014.

Illness and death

Bem was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and, four years after diagnosis and after pursuing experimental treatments, she followed through with her plan to commit suicide at her home in Ithaca on May 20, 2014. Her husband, Daryl, was present with her when she died.

Works

• Bem, Sandra L. (1974). "The measurement of psychological androgyny". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 42, 155-62.
• Bem, Sandra L. and C. Watson. (1976). "Scoring packet: Bem Sex Role Inventory". Unpublished Manuscript
• Bem, S. L. (1976). "Sex typing and androgyny: Further explorations of the expressive domain". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 1016.
• Bem, S. L. (1976). "Sex typing and the avoidance of cross-sex behavior". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 48.
• Bem, S. L. (1977). "On the utility of alternative procedures for assessing psychological androgyny". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 196-205
• Bem, S. L. (1977). The 1977 annual handbook for group facilitators.
• Bem, S. L. (1979). "Theory and measurement of androgyny: A Reply to the Pedhazur- Tetenbaum and Locksley- Colten Critiques." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1047.
• Bem, S. L., & Andersen, S. M. (1981). "Sex typing and androgyny in dyadic interaction: Individual differences in responsiveness to physical attractiveness." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 74.
• Bem, S. L. (1981). "Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing source". Psychological Review, 88, 354.
• Bem, S. L. (1981). "The BSRI and gender schema theory: A reply to Spence and Helmreich". Psychological Review, 88, 369-71.
• Bem, S. L. (1982). "Gender schema theory and self-schema theory compared: A comment on Markus, Crane, Bernstein, and Siladi's "Self-schemas and gender"". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43,1192
• Bem, S. L. (1989). "Genital knowledge and gender constancy in preschool children". Child Development, 60, 3.
• Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Bem, S. L. (1995). "Dismantling gender polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up?" Journal of Sex Research, 32, 329-334.
• Bem, S. L. (1998), An Unconventional Family. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Bem, S. L., Schellenberg, E. G., & Keil, J. M. (1995). ""Innocent victims" of AIDS: Identifying the subtext". Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 1790-1800.
• Chesler, P., Rothblum, E. D., & Cole, E. ( 1995). Feminist foremothers in women's studies, psychology, and mental health. New York: Haworth Press.
• Frable, D. E. S. and Bem, S. L. (1985). "If you are gender schematic, all members of the opposite sex look alike". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 459.

External links

• Sandra Bem's Profile on Psychology's Feminist Voices