Sex-roles are the observable behaviors assigned to men and women
by the various cultures on planet Earth
because of their identifies as either males or females.

     Closely related bibliographies—such as gender-personalities—
are listed at the end.

     These books were selected and reviewed by James Park,
existential philosopher and critic of all traditional sex-roles.
The books are organized by quality, beginning with the best.

1. Sandra Lipsitz Bem
The Lens of Gender:
Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality

(New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1993)                                 244 pages

     A feminist psychologist shows how different sex-roles
emerge from three basic beliefs:
(1) BIOLOGICAL ESSENTIALISM
—that men are naturally better than women in almost every way;
and therefore men naturally must be in charge of everything.
(2) ANDROCENTRISM—that men are the center and criterion of everything,
women being defined as secondary and supportive creatures.
(3) GENDER POLARIZATION—that the sexes are fundamentally opposite,
which puts them at odds with each other.
As these beliefs disappear,
androgyny—the best of both genders—can emerge. 
This book seeks to improve the status of women thru
social and cultural change rather than inward, psychological change.
Since the culture causes the inequality, Bem believes,
cultural changes will bring the solutions.

2. Anne E. Beall & Robert J. Sternberg, editors
The Psychology of Gender

(New York: Gilford Press, 1993)      278 pages

     A collection of articles by about 10 psychologists
exploring the differences between men and women.
They all agree that there are such differences
in the roles men and women play in society,
and they are mostly dissatisfied with the inequality,
but they do not offer any new suggestions for overcoming such differences.
The book summarizes academic research completed by the early 1990s.
This reviewer hopes for more insightful books in the future,
especially with concrete suggestions for correcting the problems.

3. Sherry B. Ortner & Harriet Whitehead, editors
Sexual Meanings:
The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality

(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1981) 435 pages

     A standard work on anthropology,
looking into the sexual customs and patterns of simple tribes.
Each culture begins with the biological differences between the sexes
and builds elaborate marriage and kinship systems from those facts.

    Please suggest additional books
that should be included in this Sex-Roles Bibliography.
Send all comments to James Park: e-mail:
PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU

    This bibliography is related to several others in sexology.
Here is the complete list: