I’m always fascinated by “what counts” as a masculine or feminine “trait.” It’s so culturally driven. And I often disagree.

I’m 53% masculine and 47% feminine.

When we compare your results with other women it shows that you are somewhat more masculine than average. What does it mean for a woman to be masculine? Masculinity in Western culture involves participation in physical activity and strong analytical skills. But masculinity is more than just liking sports and analyzing problems.

Of the four gender types identified (highly masculine, highly feminine, androgynous, sex-role transcendent), I am classified as androgynous:

Androgynous: People who are androgynous have both strong masculine and strong feminine qualities. Androgynous people tend to be both action and people oriented, and are usually able to successfully take on a diverse range of roles that cross gender-role boundaries.

There were interesting charts showing norms for men and women on a variety of qualities (and where I plot on those) but since they were using scripting there really isn’t any way to display those here (at least not without spending WAYYY too much time on it).

Here’s the verbiage, though:

Traditional Masculine Qualities:

Sports Fan: You scored in the mid-range of liking sports compared to other people. You’re physically active, but it’s not an obsession. You may be more of a spectator than a player when it comes to sports. When making choices about how you spend your time, there are occasions when you really want to be active and at other times you’d rather be more sedentary. You may get competitive at times, but it’s not a defining quality.

Decisive: You probably have no trouble making decisions. You’re someone who almost always has your wits about you. You are generally capable of dealing with difficult, high-pressure situations and handling the consequences of your actions. In fact, you may even seek out roles and situations that demand your sharp decision-making skills.

Leader: You are likely to have exceptionally strong leadership abilities. You tend to be a self-confident, goal-focused, trailblazer. Being successful in life is probably one of the most important things to you. You’re not likely to back away from an opportunity to take charge. You may, in fact, seek out settings in which you can play a leadership role.

Aggressive: You tend to be high in aggressiveness. When you’re provoked you’re most likely to respond in attack mode. You may not be the one to escalate a conflict, but you’re likely to return insult for insult and blow for blow. You probably have a very short temper. You tend to be someone who feels strongly about protecting and defending what’s yours, whether that’s property or people.

Analytical: You are highly analytical. Complex thinking and problem solving are activities in which you are likely to engage regularly. You tend to enjoy stretching your mental muscles. When someone asks you an explanatory question, such as “How does that work?” you may be prone to give a more detailed answer than necessary. You are generally drawn to roles and situations in which you can exercise your strong analytical skills.

Principled Individualist: You are unique. You probably feel that you are very much your own person with a strong sense of self, and that there is no one quite like you. You are likely to have a clear sense of right and wrong, and seek to conduct yourself in a way that lives up to your own high standards. You have an internal ethical system and living according to your own rules is what matters most to you. Your approach to life tends to be positive and hopeful.

Traditional Feminine Qualities:

Cheerful: No one is likely to describe you as perky. You can even be a bit cynical or pessimistic. You don’t tend to be someone who simply paints a smile on your face even if you’re feeling down. When you’re happy, you’re happy, and when you’re not, you’re not. Other people who are extremely perky, peppy and sunny may even annoy you.

Compassionate: You are moderately caring and compassionate. You have a warm and tenderhearted side, but you may be more likely to show it to those who are closest to you and not just to everyone. You’re comfortable expressing affection in certain situations. You might be moved to help every person who needs it, but you’re also aware of the practical limitations of trying to fix every wrong in the world. While you sometimes find yourself in care-giving situations, you probably don’t actively seek them out.

Gentle: You are not especially gentle. You tend more toward energy, power and intensity in your demeanor. When you get angry or frustrated, you tend to express it. You’re not likely to want to quickly smooth things over or just turn the other cheek. You may find that quiet, calm, tranquil settings can be boring. Although you’re not opposed to peacefulness, you thrive on a certain amount of stress. You may even pride yourself on being a little rough around the edges.

Understanding: You understand people fairly well. You are able to see things from others’ perspectives and can usually empathize with people’s problems and struggles. You may have some intuition and insight into people’s motivations and goals. It’s likely that you have a friend or two that turn to you when they have problems. You might have toyed with the idea of being a therapist. It’s likely that you find yourself in roles and situations that call upon your skill in understanding people, even if you don’t actively seek these out.

Timid: You are not very timid. In a crowd you tend to stand out. You generally enjoy attention from others and may even seek the spotlight. You’re fairly self-confident and are not easily embarrassed. In a group setting you can usually jump right into the conversation. You can be very social and outgoing. When you first meet someone your self-confidence helps you feel comfortable and you’re probably good at making the other person feel comfortable as well. When you feel strongly about something, whether it’s positive or negative, you tend to have little trouble expressing your feelings.

Trusting: You are not very trusting. When someone tells you something you may require independent verification before you really believe it. You tend to be very good at telling when someone is lying to you, and it is probably rare for someone to deceive you for any length of time. You’re not looking for the worst in people, but you tend to approach life with the belief that things aren’t always exactly the way they appear on the surface. You tend to possess a healthy sense of skepticism.

Tickle Statement:

Tickle’s own research used the established measures of psychology as a starting point and we conducted our own studies to discover what masculinity and femininity mean today. It may be somewhat surprising to learn that society’s beliefs about masculinity and femininity haven’t changed all that much. What has changed is that in current times more people are scoring as androgynous and sex-role transcendent. This area continues to be an active research topic in psychology because gender identity can affect how we think, behave, and communicate.

Since I work for a company that specializes in workforce assessments and strategies, I can’t help but notice that these gender traits might be better described in the neutral language of DISC behavioral styles. For example, the power components (aggressive/timid) are about the use of force, the D quadrant. I’ve seen plenty of High D women and Low D men.

The whole sports thing has nothing to do with gender at all – and they are really talking about all kinds of different things – loyalty to a team and vicarious adrenaline and war games and exercise and health…. A dedicated ballet dancer is then…what?…super masculine?

Some of the categories are really more about prioritizing one’s passions and values – So, a kind compassionate man would be…..super feminine?

And they leave things out, such as communication styles (even though they give examples, such as Deborah Tanner).

On “trusting” – does this mean trusting of people? Which people? All people? Family, friends, strangers, in-group, out-group, authority figures? Does it also include trust with regard to tasks and objects – lower standards with regard to information, products, methods?

This just isn’t a good way to organize. I really wonder about where they got the “norms” too.

So, these things are fun, but I don’t really see that a breakdown in terms of gender makes any sense.

My own opinion is that there are behaviors and values that are socially coded as “masculine” or “feminine.” These break down too – for example, along class lines.

I don’t really think that there is any such thing (not in terms of behavior and personality), as an inherently “gender-specific trait.”

And of course none of this has anything to do with gender “identity,” which is a recent social construct that plays most often in debates and arguments about sexuality, not gender.

Check out this excellent excerpt from Bill McKibben’s article in the August 2005 edition of Harper’s Magazine.

The basic point is that although the overwhelming majority of Americans profess to be Christian, the USA is the least Christian in its behavior (compared to other “developed” nations).

A few nuggets:

“In 2004, as a share of our economy, we ranked second to last, after Italy, among developed countries in government foreign aid. Per capita we each provide fifteen cents a day in official development assistance to poor countries.”

“nearly 18 percent of American children lived in poverty (compared with, say, 8 percent in Sweden). In fact, by pretty much any measure of caring for the least among us you want to propose—childhood nutrition, infant mortality, access to preschool—we come in nearly last among the rich nations, and often by a wide margin.”

“Despite the Sixth Commandment, we are, of course, the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers.”

“We have prison populations greater by a factor of six or seven than other rich nations (which at least should give us plenty of opportunity for visiting the prisoners).”

“Having been told to turn the other cheek, we’re the only Western democracy left that executes its citizens, mostly in those states where Christianity is theoretically strongest.”

Usery? Adultery? Deceit? Greed? Envy? Gluttony? Hey, take your pick.

“After all, in the days before his crucifixion, when Jesus summed up his message for his disciples, he said the way you could tell the righteous from the damned was by whether they’d fed the hungry, slaked the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the prisoner.”

Think about it. The Christian message is NOT to steal from the poor, or to take water and other natural resources from others, or to abandon the needy, or to hate those who are unlike you or to rally for death. Those things are not Christian, and no manipulation by any false prophet will make it Christian.

God’s spirit and will – at least as it might have been expressed through Jesus, and I can think of some others – is a spirit of compassion, love and forgiveness. None of us are particularly good at living those values that Jesus modelled – but if you base your politics on a Christian viewpoint, you’re not really allowed to claim that the opposite of those values is a Christian moral ground.

I grew up as a hard-core fundamentalist, and later taught religion at the university level. Most students who think they are Christian don’t understand the texts and doctrines of their own religion. They have beliefs that are not a part of the understanding of their own denomination’s teaching, and sometimes not even mentioned in the Bible at all – supposedly the source of their authority. Of course, the bible is a highly selective and edited collection of diverse texts, with a political history of its own – and the idea of its being “inspired” came kind of late in that history.

Still – if you are a Christian, don’t you have to take into some consideration the actual teachings of your messiah? By your teaching, you must believe that you will be judged as you have judged, that you will be forgiven as you have been forgiving, that Jesus will consider all you have done toward the poor, toward the hurting, toward the powerless – as you having done it toward him.

Alas alas for you – hypocrites and Pharisees… making a big show of righteousness and it signifies nothing real at all.

The word repent means turn around. If you have not love (caritas – charity, compassion, caring), you have nothing at all.