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Masculinity and Femininity in Japanese Culture: A Pilot Study

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Abstract

This study examined masculinity and femininityin Japanese culture. Two hundred sixty-five collegestudents (male = 104; female = 161) took the Japaneseversion of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) with pertinent demographic questions. Subjects wereall Japanese and no other races were included. Theresults showed no significant difference betweenJapanese male college students and Japanese femalecollege students on both the Masculinity and Femininityscale of the BSRI. It was also found that both male andfemale Japanese college students scored higher on theFemininity scale than on the Masculinity scale of the BSRI. A confirmatory factor analysisalso supported that Bem's gender role model did not fitthe data collected in Japan. The limitations andimplications of the study are also discussed.

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Sugihara, Y., Katsurada, E. Masculinity and Femininity in Japanese Culture: A Pilot Study. Sex Roles 40, 635–646 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018896215625

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