ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some of the psychological mechanisms (schema theory and attitudes) employed to create and maintain gender-role stereotypes. It examines research findings on psychological gender differences. The chapter sets the scene for discussing alternatives to the binary gender approach by considering the concept of androgyny. It also considers binary thinking, a key theme rippling through all discussions of gender and sexuality. Pop-psychology books closely adhere to gender-role stereotypes, which explain their appeal, as they ‘entertain’ with humorous and reassuring familiarity. The chapter covers the defining qualities of gender stereotypes and the implications. The cult of womanhood is about the personal; in contrast, the male gender stereotype is all about the positional. In the 1970s, Richard Brannon proposed the various cardinal aspirations of masculinity, which have been less resistant to change than the virtues of womanhood. Psychologist Anne Constantinople argues that measures of masculinity and femininity more likely tap into several independent, separate clusters of beliefs and attitudes.
