Gender bias in the English language?

A biased representation of the desirability of the masculine and feminine t rait terms included within a questionnaire can compel test respondents to c haracterize males and females in a comparably biased manner. The current st udy assessed whether the English language might itself contain more male-va lued or female-valued terms. Ratings of desirability, masculinity, and femi ninity were obtained on a representative sample of 1,710 trait terms. The r esults suggested that the language is not itself gender neutral, in that it does appear to have more female-valued than male-valued terms. However, th e language might not be described as biased if this is an accurate represen tation of the traits exhibited by males and females and the desirability of the trails. Implications of the results for the assessment and diagnosis o f personality are discussed.