Deck 8: Sexuality

Question 1

Sexuality involves

A) both personal choices and cultural ideas.
B) personal choices only.
C) cultural ideas only.
D) biology and personal choices,but not cultural ideas.

Answer 1

both personal choices and cultural ideas.

Question 2

Margaret Mead's work in the islands of the western Pacific contributed which of the following to a greater understanding of human sexuality?

A) This work provided evidence that men and women are naturally sexually promiscuous.
B) This work challenged the assumptions that sexual practices should be private rather than public.
C) This work challenged the assumptions that U.S.attitudes about sexuality were universal traits fixed in human nature.
D) This work explored the commonalities between human sexual practices and the sexual practices of other primates.

Answer 2

This work challenged the assumptions that U.S.attitudes about sexuality were universal traits fixed in human nature.

Question 3

Contemporary anthropologists study sexuality

A) as a means of understanding the diverse expressions of sexuality worldwide.
B) as a means of understanding the individuals they want to study for other reasons.
C) with hesitation due to the difficulty of watching people have sex.
D) with great care as part of participant observation.

Answer 3

as a means of understanding the diverse expressions of sexuality worldwide.

Question 4

In addition to humans,which other mammal engages in sexual activity for fun?

A) elephants
B) dolphins
C) cats
D) gorillas

Question 5

Which of the following statements about the mati of Suriname is true?

A) "Mati work" parallels European ideas of lesbianism.
B) Mati regard sexuality as a flexible behavior rather than a fixed identity.
C) Mati marry men for children and economic stability while maintaining "visiting relationships" with female partners.
D) "Mati work" is a practice that was transferred from the Netherlands to its colony,and that later disappeared in the Netherlands while persisting in Suriname.

Question 6

"High testosterone levels" is a term often used in conjunction with men on the topic of an excessive,sometimes abusive,sex drive.Yet,physical anthropologist Helen Fisher suggests that this neurochemical,in addition to triggering the sense of excitement,is found in

A) humans only when highly aroused.
B) higher levels in women.
C) all mammals.
D) men and women.

Question 7

Under the rules of machismo,the machista is considered a

A) manly man.
B) cochon,or gay man.
C) sex worker.
D) weak man.

Question 8

Geneticists have been able to successfully identify

A) clusters of "gay" and "straight" genes that determine sexual orientation.
B) the "gay" gene but not the "straight" gene.
C) the "straight" gene but not the "gay" gene.
D) no gene or cluster of genes that determines sexuality.

Question 9

Mati may engage in sexual relationships with

A) men.
B) women.
C) only other mati.
D) men and women.

Question 10

The mati in Surinam form intimate spiritual,emotional,and sexual relationships with other women but may maintain a "visiting" relationship with men for the purposes of children and economics.This might suggest that these women are

A) machista.
B) homosexual.
C) lesbian.
D) bisexual.

Question 11

Machismo is defined as a strong,sometimes exaggerated performance of masculinity,and as a result,Nicaraguan men may engage in sexual relations with

A) other homosexuals exclusively.
B) heterosexual and homosexual men.
C) heterosexual and homosexual women.
D) heterosexual and homosexual men and women.

Question 12

Human beings have a libido-a degree of sexual and erotic drive or interest-that varies widely.During our lives,our libido fluctuates,and for many,the baseline libido is so low as to result in no erotic interest in others at all.This is true for those who identify as

A) homosexual.
B) bisexual.
C) asexual.
D) heterosexual.

Question 13

According to contemporary cultural anthropologists,humans in most cultures seem to engage in sexual activity

A) mostly for fun.
B) mostly for procreation.
C) for fun exclusively.
D) for procreation exclusively.

Question 14

Which of the following factors would a cultural constructionist consider studying when investigating human sexuality?

A) an eldercare home
B) a Ukrainian festival organization
C) neurochemical responses
D) a Christian dating forum

Question 15

Initiation ceremonies among the Sambia of Papua New Guinea involve ritualized oral sex between older and younger men who form close relationships for several years until the younger man marries.This is similar to what practice discussed in the text?

A) the performance of machismo in Nicaragua
B) the same-gender mati work in Surinam
C) the performance of heterosexuality in the United States
D) the tendency of human beings to have sex mostly for fun

Question 16

Mapping the global scope of diverse human sexual beliefs and behaviors is called the

A) ethnology of human sexuality.
B) comparative sexuality project.
C) ethnocartography of human sexuality.
D) globalization of human sexuality.

Question 17

An anthropologist would characterize the attraction to and sexual relationships between women as

A) bisexuality.
B) heterosexuality.
C) asexuality.
D) homosexuality.

Question 18

Which of the following does NOT fit the definition of sexuality in the text?

A) the cultural arena within which people debate ideas about what behaviors are appropriate
B) the range of behaviors related to intimacy and pleasure
C) the public display of wealth to gain community status
D) the use of ideas about what is "natural" to create unequal access to status and power

Question 19

The Victorian ideal of sexuality idealized procreation,in contrast to what anthropology has discovered about human interest in sex today.Having sex "for fun" was considered out of keeping with

A) government edicts.
B) Christian teachings.
C) scientific discovery.
D) medical knowledge.

Question 20

In Nicaragua,machismo is a kind of

A) gender performance.
B) sexual performance.
C) display of sexual bravado.
D) status.

Question 21

Cultural and governmental institutions attempt to regulate and control sexuality by various means,including defining the age of consent,how marriage and divorce can be obtained,and reproductive rights such as abortion.All of these seek to define

A) the full extent of the legal power of government.
B) the role of culture in sex.
C) who can do what with whom and when they can do it.
D) the limits of acceptable sexual practice.

Question 22

Sociologist Mignon Moore found that the intersection of ________ and ________ most impacted the identities of the women in her book Invisible Families (2011).

A) class;age
B) race;age
C) race;sexuality
D) class;gender

Question 23

Students at Antioch College developed a sexual offense policy in which it was explicitly stated that the individual with whom sexual contact is initiated must clearly indicate his or her willingness or lack of willingness to engage in sexual activity by giving

A) permission to enter the room.
B) a sign that it is okay to have sex.
C) clear consent for having sex.
D) a clear "yes" for each act.

Question 24

Many different cultural institutions act to regulate and control our sexuality,sometimes in ways of which we are not aware,often in ways we openly challenge.This is a process anthropologists refer to as

A) intersectionality.
B) hegemony.
C) sexology.
D) sexual discourse.

Question 25

Dr.Alfred Kinsey discovered that the sexual proclivities of an individual could shift over a lifetime,encompassing a wide range of sexual activity and interest that could include heterosexual and homosexual sex,as well as a mixture of both.His attempt to quantify and describe this resulted in the

A) development of a continuum of human sexuality.
B) development of the Kinsey scale.
C) elimination of heterosexuality as the dominant paradigm of sexuality.
D) promotion of homosexuality as a sexual expression.

Question 26

________ are key cultural institutions through which we learn what it means to be heterosexual.

A) Church services
B) Weddings
C) Baptisms
D) Bar mitzvahs

Question 27

The work of Mignon Moore describes the experiences of lesbian African American women.These women often struggle in their lives because they must

A) choose whether to remain loyal to their race.
B) choose from several different identities of race,class,and sexuality.
C) choose whether to be openly lesbian.
D) skirt legal challenges to their sexual identity.

Question 28

The wedding industry appeared in part due to the intense growth of capitalism and the appearance of social institutions that celebrate marriage,but has become a powerful force in the

A) creation of same-sex marriage in the United States.
B) maintenance of Victorian ideals about sexuality.
C) way U.S.society talks about and understands heterosexuality.
D) continuing view of sexual activity for procreative purposes.

Question 29

The scale describing a spectrum of human sexuality with exclusively heterosexual behavior on one end and exclusively homosexual behavior on the other is known as the ________ scale.

A) human sexuality
B) Kinsey
C) Harvard
D) Malinowski

Question 30

According to the text,which of the following has seen an increase in attention to policies addressing sexual violence?

A) college campuses
B) synagogues
C) prisons
D) nursing homes

Question 31

People whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth may identify as

A) bisexual.
B) transgender.
C) homosexual.
D) mixed gender.

Question 32

For the Victorians,masturbation was a form of self-abuse and was condemned largely on the basis of its being

A) a vector for disease.
B) an affront to the Church.
C) unpleasurable.
D) nonprocreative.

Question 33

Sexual violence is perpetuated through many different channels including

A) sadomasochism.
B) failure to openly discuss sexual interests.
C) date rape.
D) consensual intercourse.

Question 34

The text notes that heterosexuality in the United States is a fairly new invention,something that describes not simply the procreative activities of opposite-sex persons but originated because of

A) a long-established historical norm of sexuality.
B) the greater cultural currency afforded to homosexuality.
C) the shame that Victorians experienced when talking openly about sexual activity.
D) the discoveries of Richard von Krafft-Ebing.

Question 35

The experience of being a middle-class black lesbian is

A) the same as the experience of being a middle-class white lesbian.
B) the same as the experience of being a middle-class black heterosexual woman.
C) a unique status reflecting the intersectionality of race,class,and sexuality.
D) the same as the experience of being a middle-class black heterosexual man.

Question 36

DOMA,or the Defense of Marriage Act,was partially struck down by the Supreme Court.The original act supported the tenet of marriage as the

A) legal union between any two U.S.citizens.
B) legal union between one man and one woman.
C) union between one man and one woman recognized by a religious institution.
D) legal union between two members of the same sex.

Question 37

Pornography has been attacked and subjected to legal controls for a long time.Each attempt seems to result in an increase in its dissemination and consumption.Often viewed in private,government efforts to stop pornography occur because government seeks

A) to support the rights of women.
B) to control the economic results of the pornography industry.
C) ways to enforce zoning laws more effectively.
D) to regulate the discourse around sexuality.

Question 38

Harvard-trained biologist and zoologist Alfred Kinsey is quoted as saying,"The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats." In this statement,he would have likely been referring to the idea that sexual behavior

A) maintains a strict dichotomy between heterosexual and homosexual sex.
B) may include sex between humans and other animals.
C) remains fixed over the course of a lifetime.
D) is best understood as a continuum.

Question 39

Recently,the government of China began a crackdown on the practice of hiring strippers to perform at funerals in rural parts of the country,a practice that many see as normal,but to others might seem odd,even bizarre.The prohibition serves as a way to

A) enforce the norms of sexual behavior.
B) regulate commerce in rural populations.
C) foster negative attitudes toward stripping as a profession.
D) enforce the more traditional ways of having a funeral.

Question 40

Michel Foucault was a gay man who wrote extensively about sexuality that was informed by his own lived experience.His view was that in every culture,sexuality is part of how

A) political and cultural power are defined by the society's members.
B) appropriate behavior and power relations are worked out.
C) human beings express the full meaning of their lives.
D) the medical establishment takes responsibility for making sexual activity safe.

Question 41

In Kano,Nigeria,Rudolf Gaudio found that the code term for men who have sex with other men is

A) mati.
B) 'yan daudu.
C) masu harka.
D) machista.

Question 42

Rudolf Gaudio's research in Nigeria demonstrates that sexual diversity exists outside of Western contexts,and such practices can coexist with other social expressions of sexuality and gender.This is seen in the 'yan daudu because of their

A) willingness to work as prostitutes to maintain their sexual identity.
B) brazen defiance of Sharia law despite threats of severe punishment.
C) willingness to make the pilgrimage to Mecca as part of their faith.
D) acceptance of homosexual behavior with that of marrying women and having children.

Question 43

Compare and contrast the perspective on human sexuality offered by evolutionary biologists and cultural constructionists.What factors do evolutionary biologists study to learn more about human sexuality? How does this compare to the factors an anthropologist with a cultural constructionist perspective might investigate? Which approach do you find most valuable?

Question 44

Compare and contrast gay and lesbian commitment ceremonies with the traditional white wedding.How might the differences between these rituals be minimized by the legalization of same-sex marriage? In what ways are gay and lesbian commitment ceremonies both rituals of acceptance and resistance?

Question 45

Using historical and cross-cultural examples provided in the text,evaluate the value of an anthropological approach to sexuality.What do historical and cross-cultural cases of sexuality tell us about sexual norms? Did you learn anything in this chapter about sexuality that you had previously taken for granted? If so,what did you learn? If not,provide an example of something discussed in the chapter that you think someone in an older generation might be surprised to learn.

Question 46

Examples of sexuality in contemporary media and politics are abundant-Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)rights,date rape,and DOMA all make headlines.At their heart,though,such examples do NOT include clear mention of

A) the many safety issues involved in open sexual behavior.
B) the worldwide problem of sexual violence.
C) the U.S.public policy debate over the criminalization of sex work.
D) what it might mean to have "yes" mean "yes."

Question 47

'Yan daudu use language as a tool with which to challenge the dominant norms of northern Nigerian ________ culture.

A) sexual
B) domestic
C) colonial
D) marriage

Question 48

Nigerians regard homosexuality as

A) an inauthentic African lifestyle.
B) part of the Western influences that have been flooding into Africa for years.
C) a new front of Western imperial domination.
D) a marginalized status.

Question 49

How did sexology contribute to establishing heterosexuality as the dominant erotic ideal in the United States? Despite his findings that human sexuality is marked by diversity,flexibility,and fluidity,in what two ways did Kinsey's research contribute to the establishment of heterosexuality as the dominant erotic ideal? Do you think this ideal remains in U.S.culture today? Why or why not?

Question 50

The spread of STIs,or sexually transmitted infections,is a global challenge.Some groups are experiencing higher rates of STIs than others.Some of the reasons for the increases are due to

A) the number of individuals being tested is going up.
B) the way individuals conceptualize what "having sex" means.
C) laws that make it illegal to get STI testing done.
D) lack of funding for U.N.sexual education programs.

Question 51

Discuss the role of language in sexuality and how it both controls behavior and gives license to behaviors.How do prominent public figures use language around sexuality? What are the consequences of direct and honest discussion in both a public and private setting?

Question 52

Define sexuality and,using a minimum of three examples from the text,describe the ways in which culture influences sexual beliefs and behaviors.

Question 53

In White Wedding: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture (2008),sociologist Chrys Ingraham asserts that brides are not born but rather made.Identify some examples of the enculturation process.Discuss the implications of the romanticized ideal of weddings.How do these ideals differ from the reality of the "white wedding" as they intersect with gender,class,and racial inequalities?

Question 54

The prevalence of "white weddings" as part of how we construct heterosexuality is discussed in the text.This industry is built from a wide range of religious,social,and economic sources,and to a large extent,it also promotes

A) inequality.
B) religiosity.
C) capitalism.
D) spirituality.

Question 55

The emerging antigay discourse that is taking place in the United States and many other countries serves as a way to

A) "out" homosexuals worldwide to better manage HIV/AIDS.
B) unify different religious groups.
C) increase the recognition of sexual diversity.
D) provide opportunities for anthropological research.

Question 56

Many governments have attempted to criminalize sex work through legal and social sanctions.One result of this is that persons entering the field must

A) conduct their work covertly.
B) be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
C) register with a government agency.
D) pay taxes that are higher than most.

Question 57

The 'yan daudu see homosexual behavior as

A) incompatible with marrying women and having families,and as incompatible with their Muslim faith.
B) compatible with marrying women and having families,and as compatible with their Muslim faith.
C) incompatible with marrying women and having families,but as compatible with their Muslim faith.
D) compatible with marrying women and having families,but as incompatible with their Muslim faith.

Question 58

The "white wedding" underscores how the discourse of heterosexuality emphasizes monogamy-the lifetime pairing of two persons in marital and sexual union.This emphasis contradicts the reality of

A) most other mammals.
B) underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria.
C) the evolutionary trajectory of love.
D) the creole women of Surinam.

Question 59

Gloria Wekker's work in Surinam has led her to suggest that the imposition of our "Western folk knowledge" places limits on how we understand sexuality.Instead,she urges students of sexuality to

A) focus attention on different ways that others define their sexuality.
B) notice that identical sexual acts have identical social meanings.
C) regard sexuality as a manifestation of a fixed identity.
D) focus attention on behavioral variation.

Question 60

In which ways does scientist and author Jared Diamond suggest that human sexuality is distinct from other mammals? Identify three ways in which humans differ from most other mammals,and discuss the possible implications of these distinctions as they intersect with other areas of interest for cultural anthropologists (e.g. ,kinship,gender,class,and religion).

Question 61

Discuss the influence of international campaigns for gay and lesbian rights on local practices using the case study of Nigeria as an example.Compare and contrast the masu harka and 'yan daudu sexual beliefs and practices with ideas about Western homosexuality.How does globalization affect ideas about sexual norms?

Question 62

All colleges now have sexual-offense policies that describe their expectations for how men and women are expected to act toward each other.Describe how Antioch College's particular policy differed from the prevailing view of the time and its results.

Question 63

Philosopher Michel Foucault describes sexuality as "an especially dense transfer point for relations of power." Discuss his claim.How does the private act of sex become a transfer point for power? Is such a transfer process something that is exclusively private? What are the public channels in which we might expect to observe this process?

Question 64

Discuss the role of colonialism in how ideas about sexuality were altered in former colonial domains such as Nigeria and Suriname.How do current attitudes toward the past reflect the way in which the former colonial powers recognized or denied sexuality? How does attention to intersectionality in this case help to illuminate the connection between power and sexuality?