The limitation of these studies is that they fail to challenge
the long-prevailing perspective thatmasculinity and femininity
represent two bipolar ends of a single continuum (Spence,
1984; Marsh, 1985; Anderson, 1986). Some resolution to the
debate comes from Bem (1974), who proposed that masculinity
and femininity are ‘two orthogonal personality dimensions
on which individuals may vary independently’ (Anderson,
1986: 265), and that gender is refl
ected in the cognitive
abilities and behaviours of a particular individual. Bem
(1974) proposed that gender is behaviour: males may exhibit
certain levels of behaviours that may have been traditionally
regarded as being feminine, and females may also exhibit
certain levels of behaviours that would have traditionally been
regarded as masculine.