Current Research on Sex Differences

The following brief discussion of current research on sex differences took
place on WMST-L in January 2007.  For additional WMST-L files available on the
Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Hello all.

I am looking for a current review of research on sex
differences.  I've used Maccoby and Jacklin's book as
my "Bible" for years, but I'm looking for a more
current source of the status of our knowledge on this
issue today.  Any recommendations would be most
appreciated!

Thank you.
Sandra Anderson

I like Janet Hyde's paper in American Psychologist (Sept 2005, vol 60
no. 6, pp. 581-592) called "The Gender Similarities Hypothesis."  If
you'd like a copy emailed to you, contact me offlist.

Here's the link to Hyde's article:

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/amp606581.pdf

DP
daphne.patai AT spanport.umass.edu

A GREAT deal has happened in sex differences research since Maccoby
and Jacklin and which supercedes that narrative review.  The gold
standard is now to do "meta-analyses" which summarize and
statistically weight all available existing studies on a particular
area.  For example, Alice Eagly has done several such meta-analyses
on the issues of sex differences in leadership and influenceability;
Janet Hyde has done several including sex differences in sexual
behaviors; Alan Feingold has analyzed sex differences in several
personality domains.  There are now several compilations of research
on various areas of research including a volume edited by Alice
Eagly, Robert Sternberg and Anne Beall.  Others have has been
assembled by Rhoda Unger and Michele Paludi.
Hope that gets you started.

--- Marianne

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN AND GENDER: SEX SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
AND THE IMPACT OF SOCIETY ON GENDER, 2 v. ed. by Judith Worell
(Academic Press, 2001) has several review essays of note,
including  "Gender  Difference Research: Issues and Critique," by
Janet Hyde & Amy Mezulis; "Sex Difference Research: Cognitive
Abilities," by Diane Halpern; "Sex-Related Difference Research:
Personality," by Mykol C. Hamilton;  and "Social Role Theory of Sex
Differences and Similarities," by Alice Eagly.

HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN AND GENDER, ed. by Rhoda Unger
(Wiley, 2001) has "Gender Similarities and Differences as Feminist
Contradictions," by Meredith M. Kimball.

**************************************************
Phyllis Holman Weisbard, Women's Studies Librarian
University of Wisconsin System
430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies
***************************************************

Hi,

Lips, H. M. (2004). Sex and Gender: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill.

Hope this helps,
Mehmet Ergun
mehmetaergun AT gmail.com

Judith Butler, 2004, Undoing Gender, Routledge

for theory worth considering

Barrie Karp

barriekarp AT earthlink.net (preferred)
karpb AT newschool.edu
www.barriekarp.com (paintings)
Barrie Karp, Ph.D., Philosophy