Deck 1: Sex, Gender, and Social Construction

Question 1

Explain how psychologist Sandra Bem's theory of gender polarization emphasizes how Western cultures perceive of sex and gender as interchangeable and gender categories as fixed and oppositional.

Answer 1

(on pp. 8-11)

Question 2

How does the theory of intersectionality compel us to understand how the complex interaction between sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, class, and sex in particular instances shape people's experiences and ideas about gender?

Answer 2

(on pp. 19-20)

Question 3

Why does understanding the term "sexual orientation" involve attaining complex knowledge that extends beyond the traditional binary of heterosexual and homosexual?

Answer 3

(on pp. 20-21)

Question 4

Explain how contemporary Native Americans who identify as "two-spirit" inhabit a gender and gender role away from traditional ideas of feminine and masculine?

Question 5

How can Lois Gould's story of Baby X encourage public discussion on whether raising children androgynously and without the limitation of rigid binary gender roles allow them greater freedom to develop healthy bodies, encourage creativity, and foster positive mental health?

Question 6

Why do many cultures worldwide utilize sex and gender as major cognitive schemas in their interpretation of the world?

Question 7

Why did Sandra Bem contend that it remains very useful to view femininity and masculinity as autonomous characteristics?

Question 8

How does R.W. Connell and James Messerschmidt's research on multiple masculinities explain why diverse expectations about masculinity are linked with numerous contexts and identities?

Question 9

Why does scholarly research focused on sex and gender within and between cultures expands our knowledge on how sex and gender categories work globally?

Question 10

Why did the evolution of modern women's studies scholarship and activism provide academic and public credibility to the notion that categories of sex and gender are not distinct as previously articulated in traditional perspectives?

Question 11

What socio-economic and cultural forces influences the creation of virgjinesha in Albania?

Question 12

Why do the INSA (Intersex Society of North America) emphasize that intersex represents a socially constructed category?

Question 13

Why did Sandra Bem contend that it remains more useful to understand femininity and masculinity as autonomous characteristics?

Question 14

How have expectations regarding gender roles changed over time in the United States?

Question 15

What are some global cross-cultural similarities regarding gender roles?

Question 16

How does the concept of intersectionality broaden our knowledge of the multiple factors that shape people's lives?

Question 17

Explain how contemporary studies on gender variant or gender nonconformity underscore the idea that gender is merely a choice between feminine and masculine?

Question 18

How does the modern Native American term "two-spirit" encompass a definition that perceives gender beyond the traditional binaries?

Question 19

What does the term "cognitive schema" mean when applied to the world of pre-school children's perception of gender differences?

Question 20

In X: A Fabulous Child's Story, what colors were Baby X's favorite school outfit?

A) Blue and white
B) Green and yellow
C) Red and white
D) Red and teal
E) Blue and silver

Question 21

What word is currently regarded as anachronistic for the term intersex?

A) Hermaphrodite
B) Epicene
C) Androgyne
D) Gynandromorph
E) Bisexual

Question 22

What term has now replaced the traditional phrase "biological sex"?

A) Sex at Birth
B) Assigned Sex
C) Neuter at birth
D) Common at birth
E) Sex Determined by Doctor

Question 23

Which trait is not associated with traditional notion of gender?

A) Hairstyles
B) Clothes
C) Physical activities
D) Colors
E) Coughing

Question 24

Who developed the theory of "gender polarization"?

A) Deborah Tannen
B) Lois Gould
C) Sandra Bem
D) Deborah Best
E) Anne Fausto-Sterling

Question 25

The Hua people live on the following island?

A) Hawaii
B) Madagascar
C) Comoros
D) Pemba
E) Papua New Guinea

Question 26

Which scholar articulated the notion of "alternative ways" of being gendered?

A) James Messerschmidt
B) Jack Halberstam
C) Myra M. Ferree
D) Judith Halberstam
E) Eve Sedgwick

Question 27

Which phrase best describes the modern Native American term two-spirit?

A) Third Gender
B) Blithe Spirit
C) Fourth Gender
D) Second Sex
E) Shared Spirit

Question 28

Which sentence best describes the term asexual?

A) A person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to other people.
B) A person who experiences little sexual attraction to one person.
C) A person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to one person of the opposite assigned sex.
D) A person who experiences no sexual attraction to anyone.
E) A person who experiences little sexual attraction to two people.

Question 29

Who is regarded today as a contemporary gender nonconforming celebrity?

A) Reed Erickson
B) Holly Woodlawn
C) Lee Brewster
D) Albert Cashier
E) Laverne Cox

Question 30

What term defines a person whose gender identity is in traditional alignment with their assigned sex at birth?

A) Cisgender
B) Agender
C) Bigender
D) Genderqueer
E) Androgynous

Question 31

Which one of these norms is measured within The Femininity Ideology Scale?

A) Happiness
B) Athletic abilities
C) Caretaking
D) Rationality
E) Ingenuity

Question 32

Which one of the following nations have the most conservative gender role ideologies?

A) Iceland
B) Japan
C) Finland
D) The Netherlands
E) Belgium

Question 33

How many sex and gender categories do the Bugis of Indonesia recognize?

A) Seven
B) Four
C) Eight
D) Five
E) Nine

Question 34

Which scholar pioneered studies exploring gender ideology in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) Christine Gailey
C) Susan Bennett
D) John E. Williams
E) Ronald Levant

Question 35

In X: A Fabulous Child's Story, what factor confused other parents who couldn't ascertain the assigned sex of Baby X?

A) Baby X likes to dance to jazz and reggae music.
B) Baby X plays ball and house equally well.
C) Baby X loves pureed bananas and carrots.
D) Baby X sleeps with fuchsia and azure blankets.
E) Baby X uses cloth diapers and Pampers.

Question 36

What does the acronym ISNA stand for?

A) Intersex Society of North America
B) Intersex Society of North Anglia
C) Intersex Society of Northern Australia
D) Intersex Society of New Americans
E) Intersex Society of Northern Austria

Question 37

Which sociologist said that a good descriptor of sex is that it's related to "our chromosomal, chemical, anatomical organization?"

A) Judith Butler
B) Naomi Wolf
C) Susan Bordo
D) Michael Kimmel
E) J.W. Scott

Question 38

In which nation do men support conventional masculinity more than women?

A) China
B) United States
C) Pakistan
D) Vietnam
E) Russia

Question 39

In which nation do women now earn the majority of college degrees at all levels---associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctorate?

A) Argentina
B) India
C) United States
D) Chile
E) Estonia

Question 40

Which one of the following factors is not related to the term gender expression?

A) The length of one's hair
B) The number of a person's eyelashes
C) The way one acts
D) The way one dresses
E) The way one wears or does not wear makeup

Question 41

Which gender identity category best describes the Hijras?

A) Cisgender
B) Bisexual
C) Agender
D) Two-spirit
E) Third sex/third gender

Question 42

According to scholar and activist Will Roscoe, what is the primary feature of a male berdache?

A) Leadership
B) Warfare
C) Hunting
D) Productive specialization in crafts and domestic work
E) Divination
True-False Questions

Question 43

Tony Briffa became the first openly intersex mayor of Brisbane, Australia.

Question 44

Historically, many intersex persons were sometimes called Hermaphrodites after the Greek myth of Hermaphroditus.

Question 45

Transitioning is a process by which transgender people's bodies are brought into biological alignment with their sex identity, through hormone therapy and/or gender affirmation surgery.

Question 46

Western culture traditionally viewed gender nonconformity as problematic and unconventional.

Question 47

The Male Role Norms Inventory Revised measures 8 norms of traditional masculinity.

Question 48

In gay and lesbian subcultures, women who are gender nonconforming are called butch.

Question 49

The number of fathers who stay at home with their children has doubled since 2000.

Question 50

We'wha was a Hopi Indian berdache who lived during the first half of the nineteenth century in what is now Arizona.

Question 51

At the conclusion of Lois Gould's feminist tale X: A Fabulous Child's Story, the Psychiatrist had been crying right before coming into the room to tell everyone the results of the tests Baby X underwent.

Question 52

The Virgjinesha originate from Macedonia and reside their entire lives in Catholic convents.