Subtypes of women and men: A new taxonomy and an exploratory categorical analysis

Guided by theories and research on person perception, we created a taxonomy of gender subtypes that had been generated by students. The categories wer e organized in terms of level of analysis (i.e:, personal, interpersonal, a nd collective). Three subtype categories were found to be more associated w ith female targets and three with male targets. For example, the category o f Power was found to be relevant to more subtypes of men than of women. Als o, students' subtypes differed as a function of their gender and gender-rol e orientation. Women were more likely than men to generate subtypes relatin g to interpersonal roles and to demographics, whereas men generated more de rogatory and more sexual style subtypes than did women. Androgynous student s generated more subtypes than did gender-typed students for four of the ca tegories. These patterns are discussed in terms of information diagnostic o f gender variability, individual differences in accessibility to categories of information, and social construction of gender.