Deck 10: Sexualities

Question 1

What is the difference between being sexy and being sexual?

A) None, they mean the same thing.
B) To be sexy is to be desired; to be sexual is to feel desire.
C) To be sexy is to be desired; one becomes sexual at puberty.
D) To be sexy is to feel desired; to be sexual is to be desired.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What is sexual spectating?

A) focusing on how a sexual activity feels
B) watching others' sexual performances for enjoyment
C) monitoring one's own sexual performance
D) controlling others' sexual performances

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is the erotic marketplace?

A) The abstract space in which goods and services are attributed economic value.
B) The places in which people sell and buy erotic services and goods.
C) The abstract space in which sexual goods are commodified.
D) The abstract space in which people are organized according to their perceived sexual desirability.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

OKCupid data on racial patterns in the U.S. erotic marketplace shows that

A) black men are seen as too masculine and threatening; while their sexuality is fetishized, they are not considered suitable marriage partners.
B) Asian women are eroticized and regarded as 'extra-feminine.'
C) Asian men are considered among the least attractive, because they are seen as passive or weak.
D) All of the above.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT true?

A) Asian women and men are more likely to marry outside their racial group than inside it.
B) White women are more likely to marry black men than Asian men.
C) Whites are more likely to marry Latinos than they are to marry blacks.
D) White men are more likely to marry Asian women than black women.

Question 6

Which of the following expressions best represents today's new sexual imperatives?

A) Being a virgin, after a certain age, is embarrassing.
B) Saying "yes" to sex has been replaced by a pressure to say "no."
C) Virginity loss has been equated to masturbation and anal sex.
D) The majority of 15- to 24-year-olds prefer to avoid sexual intercourse.

Question 7

How has the fertility rate in the United States changed throughout the twentieth century?

A) Between 1920 and 1940, it declined. Between 1940 and 1960, it rose substantially. By 1960, it started to decline again, but since the 1980s it has remained somewhat constant.
B) It has been rising since the 1920s.
C) Between 1920 and 1960, it rose substantially. By 1960, it declined sharply and in the mid-1970s, it remained at the same level.
D) Between 1920 and 1950, and 1960 and 1970, it declined sharply. Since the 1980s, it has remained at the same level.

Question 8

Many heterosexual men are uncomfortable in gay male spaces because

A) they have not internalized correctly the heterosexual female gaze.
B) they have not internalized correctly the homosexual male gaze.
C) they are used to objectifying others, rather than being objectified by others.
D) they are used to being objectified only by women.

Question 9

Why are accomplishments a disadvantage for women, but not for men?

A) New gendered imperatives suggest that women should be equal to men.
B) Relative to men, a small proportion of women have accomplishments.
C) For the average man, a woman's accomplishments make him anxious, not excited.
D) Accomplishments are more sexy in women than in men.

Question 10

What is sexual objectification?

A) It is the process by which people, especially women, are presented as objects of desire for others.
B) It is the process by which women internalize a heterosexual orientation.
C) It is the process by which people find someone attractive and sexually desirable.
D) It is the process by which men define a particular object as sexually desirable.

Question 11

Self-objectification is

A) accepting a heterosexual orientation simply by virtue of heteronormativity.
B) the internalization of the idea that others can be more attractive than they are themselves.
C) a rejection of sexual subjectification and learning to love one's own body.
D) learning to think of oneself as an object for the pleasure of others.

Question 12

What does it mean to say that we privilege the heterosexual male gaze?

A) Media images are designed to appeal to sexy women.
B) Media images are designed to appeal to heterosexual women who are attracted by the gaze.
C) Media images are designed to appeal to heterosexual men and lesbian women.
D) Media images are designed to appeal to heterosexual men.

Question 13

Why has the erotic marketplace placed a ceiling on women's level of success?

A) Women escalate more slowly than men in a wide range of valued accomplishments.
B) Women escalate faster than men in a wide range of valued accomplishments.
C) Gendered matching rules suggest that men should be more attractive than women.
D) Gendered matching rules suggest that men should be more accomplished than women.

Question 14

What is the sexual script?

A) specific rules that guide homosexual sexual performances
B) images designed to appeal to a hypothetical heterosexual man
C) rules that objectify others as sexually attractive
D) institutionalized rules for sexual interactions

Question 15

According to OKCupid data, why is men's desirability less dependent on his looks?

A) Because women only respond to men with high incomes and do not consider men's looks.
B) Because the most attractive women are less likely to receive messages than the most attractive men.
C) Because in addition to desirability, men can offset being not-so-attractive by being funny, smart, or rich.
D) Because on average, men tend to seek women who are more than them.

Question 16

How do gender and age intersect in the erotic marketplace?

A) As women get older, they prefer younger men, just like men prefer younger women.
B) The average man prefers to date a women who is younger; the average woman reports the opposite preference.
C) The average man prefers to date women who are younger, but as they get older the age gap he prefers shrinks.
D) Age is conflated with ugliness; this is equally true for men and women, so as they age their erotic value approaches zero.

Question 17

What does the concept of baby boomers convey?

A) babies who were born in towns that are booming
B) babies who were born in a period of sudden economic growth
C) babies who were born during the Vietnam War and who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s
D) babies who were born after the World War II and who grew up during the 1950s and 1960s

Question 18

How can positive stereotypes of black men's sexuality be a disadvantage to them?

A) Hypermasculinity is both sexually attractive and sexually frightening.
B) Hypermasculinity makes black men more sexually skilled.
C) Hypermasculinity is less sexually attractive to women.
D) Hypermasculinity is sexually attractive to heterosexual women, but not homosexual men.

Question 19

What does it mean that we do sexuality?

A) It means learning how to be sexual with your partner.
B) It means that our sexual interactions are free and spontaneous.
C) It means that we often follow rules that prescribe the who, what, and how of sexual intimacy.
D) It means sexual liberation and the opportunity to engage in sexual activity if one wants.

Question 20

What is sexual subjectification?

A) It is the process by which people learn to discover and know their own desires as sexual subjects.
B) It is the process by which women learn to submit themselves to a heterosexual male gaze.
C) It is the process by which we internalize the sexual script offered by our culture.
D) It is the process by which gay men and women discover their subjective sexual orientation.

Question 21

Is the orgasm gap an outcome of natural biological differences between men and women? Why or why not?

Question 22

What is one way that anti-rape campaigns on college campuses frequently perpetuate rape culture instead?

A) Rape culture is so institutionalized that it is impossible to escape it.
B) These campaigns forget to draw attention to non-student sexual predators.
C) College women can shame perpetrators who are fellow students more easily than administrators can.
D) Campaigns tend to focus on what women did not do to reduce their risk, rather than what the perpetrators did.

Question 23

The lead-in question to your textbook's chapter on sexuality was: "Gendered ideas, interactions, and institutions may affect almost every part of my life, but some things are personal and my sexuality is mine and mine alone, isn't it?" Why do the authors argue that the answer is no.

Question 24

Describe two contemporary advertisements or programs you have encountered in the media that you believe contribute significantly to processes of sexual liberation and/or sexual objectification. Explain clearly how they do so. Use your examples also to consider whether these effects are similar or different for women and men of different racial groups and why this would be the case.

Question 25

Choose the most accurate statement.

A) Sexual scripts distinguish the legal from the illegal forms of sexuality.
B) When sexual scripts change, there is always a cultural or institutional backlash.
C) Compulsory heterosexuality is part of our sexual script.
D) People who deviate from sexual scripts are heterosexist.

Question 26

What are the main characteristics of "Hookup Culture"? (a) How does it differ from previous forms of romantic and sexual interaction? (b) How does it reflect gender inequality? (c) How do class, sexual orientation, and race intersect to shape who participates?

Question 27

Which of the following statistics related to rates of orgasm is true?

A) Women have about three times as many orgasms as men but are reluctant to admit it.
B) Women in same-sex relationships have two to three times as many orgasms as women in heterosexual ones.
C) Compared to men, when women masturbate they reach orgasm much more slowly.
D) Women have more orgasms than men do in penile-vaginal intercourse.

Question 28

Bystander intervention programs on college campuses are effective in reducing rates of sexual violence, because

A) they teach both men and women how to intervene in specific situations.
B) they empower the entire college community to just say no to rape culture.
C) they teach that standing by is safer than intervening.
D) they teach women to always have a buddy with her for safety in numbers.

Question 29

Why are sexual-minority students less likely to participate in hookup culture than heterosexual students?

A) Many sexual-minority students are women and they don't prefer to hook up.
B) Because hookup culture is specifically heterosexual.
C) Because sexual-minority students often receive less sexual attention than heterosexual students.
D) Because the sexual script for sexual-minority students is confused.

Question 30

What is extended adolescence?

A) the period of time after high school during which young people prepare for a future in which they'll be "real" adults
B) the period of time after college during which young women think about whether they should have a career or not
C) the period of time during college during which young men want sex but don't feel mature enough actually to initiate sexual relationships
D) a midlife crisis in which men and women return to an adolescent frame of mind

Question 31

In contemporary college hookup culture, which of the following is true?

A) Men neglect women's orgasms in general.
B) Men neglect women's orgasms in hookups.
C) Men prioritize women's orgasms in hookups.
D) Women prioritize their own orgasms.

Question 32

Based on data from OKCupid, how do age, race, class, and gender intersect to play a role in the erotic marketplace? Discuss at least two of the wider social implications of this differential "marketability."

Question 33

What is the politics of respectability?

A) the rule that contemporary Americans display tolerance to racial and sexual minorities
B) a cultural script for men that prescribes respect for women's sexuality
C) behaving according to mainstream rules to protect the reputation of your racial group
D) a cultural script that identifies white men and women as deserving respect