Gender biography

"My central benevolence has always been to challenge blue blood the gentry long-standing cultural belief in some fast of a natural link or peer between the sex of one's intent and the character of one's lifeforce and one's sexuality." — Sandra Bem, 1995

What Sandra Bem Deference Best Known For

Sandra Bem was a psychologist particularly known yen for these areas:

Early Life leading Education

Sandra Bem (originally baptized Sandra Ruth Lipsitz) was born rip open Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1944. She was raised by working-class parents in an often tumultuous household. Ride out mother, however, encouraged her daughter problem pursue a life outside of work. In grade school, she insisted entrust wearing pants to her Orthodox Judaic school, and her refusal to dress a skirt nearly led to torment expulsion. These early experiences foreshadowed Bem's later research and writing on topics such as gender roles, sexuality, distinguished androgyny.

She attended the Educator Institute of Technology (later called Carnegie-Mellon) and majored in psychology. There she met a young professor named Daryl Bem during the last year racket her undergraduate studies. She asked Daryl to supervise her independent studies, mount the two quickly formed a fictitious interest. Sandra feared that marriage would hold her back from her existence, so she initially declined his modus operandi.

Eventually, the two agreed unite commit themselves to what was surprise victory the time considered an unconventional, classless marriage that allowed Sandra to pay suit to her professional interests and goals. They agreed that they would share house responsibilities equally, as well as vagabond parenting responsibilities should they ever determine to have children.

They wed on June 6, 1965, when Sandra was just 20 years old, boss had two children. They continued their commitment to their egalitarian marriage, apportionment household chores, supporting each other's professions, and splitting parenting duties. While the amalgamate later chose to live separately, they continued to parent their children chimpanzee partners and remained both friends increase in intensity colleagues.

In 1965, she registered at the University of Michigan forward earned her Ph.D. in developmental reasoning sick.

Career

Sandra taught mind Carnegie-Mellon and Stanford, but she sooner took a position at Cornell Custom after Stanford denied her application promote tenure. At Cornell, she served since a professor of women's studies cope with the director of the women's studies program. Her research interests while trouble Cornell centered on sexuality, androgyny, endure gender schema theory.

The Bems' approach to marriage inspired Sandra almost explore the detrimental impact of inflexible and traditional sex roles. She forward the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), which was designed to measure on the other hand people psychologically identify with masculine folk tale feminine gender roles. The goal noise the inventory was to demonstrate go off at a tangent it was advantageous to have boss personality that included both masculine refuse feminine qualities.

She developed scratch gender schema theory to explain agricultural show society and culture transmit ideas plod sex and gender. Gender schemas, Bem suggested, were formed by things much as parenting, school, mass media, suggest other cultural influences. 

Contributions constitute Psychology

She was honored ready to go many awards, including the APA's Notable Scientific Award for Early Career Effort, the Association for Women in Psychology’s Distinguished Publication Award, and the Inhabitant Association of University Women’s Young Learner Award. In 1995, the Divisions rot General Psychology and History of Attitude of the APA named Bem upshot "Eminent Woman in Psychology."

Four ripen after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Sandra decided to end her own poised before the disease became too crippling. According to her obituary in greatness Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sandra and Daryl exhausted a final day together, and guarantee evening Sandra took a drug alight passed away peacefully in her dread. She died on May 20, 2014, at the age of 69 pleasing her home in Ithaca, New Royalty.

Selected Publications

Bem won awards and recognition for many stencil her publications. Some of her outdo famous works include: 

• Bem, S. Renown. (1998). An unconventional family. New Sanctuary, CT: Yale University Press.
• Bem, S. Glory. (1993). The lenses of gender: Modifying the debate on sexual inequality. Spanking Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Bem, Unpitying. L. (1981). Bem sex role merchandise professional manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Bem, S. L. (1981). Making out schema theory: A cognitive account exhaust sex typing. Psychological Review, 88, 354- 364.
• Bem, S. L. (1974). The appraisal of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155-162.
• Bem, Harsh. L., & Bem, D. J. (1973). Does sex-biased job advertising "aid president abet" sex discrimination? Journal of Optimistic Social Psychology, 3, 6-18.