Unisex in the Laboratory

The man in the street has seen it happening for quite a while, but the psychologist in the laboratory is just beginning to confirm the fact: differences between men and women are indeed diminishing--or at least getting harder to detect.

In a recent issue of the Journal of Psychology. Clinician Fred Brown of New York's Mount Sinai Hospital reports that people no longer respond to the well-known Rorschach inkblot test the way they once did. In the Rorschach, patients disclose their emotional conflicts by describing the people, animals and objects they visualize in abstract shapes. One of the ten standard blots has long been helpful in spotting sexual difficulties. In the 1950s, 51% of patients who were shown the blot said that it looked like a male figure. That response was considered normal. As for the 39% who thought the blot resembled a female, they were suspected of homosexual leanings. The diagnosis applied to men and women alike.

Surprising Reversal. Today, on the other hand, only 16% of those tested think the blot looks like a male figure; the percentage who sees it as female has risen to 51%. To Psychologist Brown, who based his conclusions on a careful study of 1,400 patients, the surprising reversal accurately mirrors a culture in which men have become more feminine and women more masculine than they used to be.

Why the change? Brown suggests that "society no longer rewards people for sexual individuality." Being male, he says, can mean being assassinated, as it meant for such strong male figures as John and Robert Kennedy. Or it can lead to death in the unpopular war in Viet Nam. Other anti-male influences, says Brown, are the belittling of fathers and husbands on TV, the blurring of sex distinctions in family life, and "a widespread cynicism about romantic love."

As for the desirability and permanence of unisex, Brown remains unsure. He hopes that the phenomenon will turn out to be like adolescence--a painful but necessary stage on the road to maturity. But even if society is really sick and not just growing up, Brown says, "patients do recover, and another study ten years from now may show a different picture." On the other hand, he glumly observes, "patients and societies also die."

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