Several investigators, using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), have concluded that masculine is the desired sex role of males and females. Other investigators have suggested that some of the feminine BSRI items are undesirable. In order to determine if this masculine ideal might be due to the nature of the BSRI feminine items (more undesirable than the masculine items), the BSRI was administered to 121 male and 177 female college students with three feminine-neutralizing items added. Subjects were asked to rate themselves as they are now and as they would ideally be in the future. Both males and females showed a large increase in their future masculine scores and only a slight increase in future feminine-original scores. This led to a shift in frequencies toward future masculine categories. However, when the revised score was calculated, males and females showed comparable increases in both masculine and feminine items, maintaining the same relative sex roles for their present and future scores. Less than half of the BSRI items differentiated males from females. Finally, females rated the masculine item very low, and males rated the feminine item very low compared to other masculine and feminine items. These results raise several questions regarding the validity of the BSRI and previous findings which suggest that masculine is the desired sex role of males and females. (Author/JAC)