Deck 9: Constructing Gender and Sexuality

Question 1

Patriarchy can be defined as a society

A) in which women and men share equal access to positions of prestige, power, and control over the means of production.
B) in which men dominate women.
C) that privileges women's experiences over those of men.
D) that seeks to equalize men's and women's access in the workplace.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

How do most sociologists differentiate between sex and gender?

A) Sex is biological; gender is social.
B) Both relate to genetics, but hormones have a greater influence on gender.
C) Sex is genetic; gender is about primary and secondary sex characteristics.
D) Gender is biological; sex is social.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A person's self-conception of being male or female based on his or her association with masculine or feminine gender roles can be defined as

A) sexual orientation.
B) gender identity.
C) transgender.
D) sexual attitude.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What is an example of a secondary sex characteristic?

A) chromosomes
B) hormones
C) body hair
D) reproductive organs

Question 5

In April 2015,Olympic gold medalist and former "World's Greatest Athlete" Bruce Jenner announced that "for all intents and purposes,I am a woman." Jenner discussed transitioning with Diane Sawyer in a special two-hour edition of the ABC News show 20/20.In the interview,Jenner stated,"As of now,I have all the male parts,but I still identify as female." What does this tell you about gender identity?

A) For many people, primary sex characteristics do not define gender.
B) The transgender community has accepted the principle of human sexual dimorphism.
C) Gender identity is often not fully formed until adulthood.
D) Public displays of gender are more important than private displays.

Question 6

What do the examples of "third gender" explored in "Global Perspective: Different Societies,Different Genders" demonstrate?

A) Sex and gender in some non-Western cultures defy the binary classification of male and female.
B) Gender expression is more important than biological sex.
C) Sociologists and anthropologists are important actors in the creation of gender expression.
D) Gender is determined by secondary sex characteristics.

Question 7

The belief that the lived experiences of women and men differ as a result of biological differences is called

A) gender theory.
B) social constructionism.
C) transsexuality.
D) essentialism.

Question 8

At least publically,every presidential candidate nominated by a major political party in the United States has been

A) cisgender.
B) homosexual.
C) a feminist.
D) male.

Question 9

What do functionalists generally believe to be true about gender?

A) Some social roles are better suited to one gender than the other.
B) Men maintain control of the most valuable social roles.
C) The current system of gender stratification is based on conflict.
D) Gender is constructed and maintained through everyday actions.

Question 10

A trans woman,a person who does not identify as male or female,and a man who sometimes identifies as female are all

A) cisgender.
B) gender nonconforming.
C) transgender.
D) homosexual.

Question 11

A trans woman,a person who does not identify as male or female,and a man who sometimes identifies as female are all

A) cisgender.
B) gender nonconforming.
C) transgender.
D) homosexual.

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of a microaggression?

A) a pregnant woman who is not given paid maternity leave by her employer
B) men who whistle at and catcall a woman who is walking down the street
C) an employer who pays his female employees less than his male employees
D) a sports team that refuses to allow female athletes to play

Question 13

Why are doctors and parents so quick to seek a surgical "fix" for babies who are born intersex?

A) Intersex babies face serious health risks later in life.
B) An ambiguously sexed person seems threatening and disturbing in Western society.
C) Doctors and parents can always tell the sex a baby was meant to be.
D) It is impossible to change a baby's sex later in life.

Question 14

Some people believe that women are better suited to be homemakers because they are naturally more caring and emotional than men.What perspective is expressed in this statement?

A) an essentialist perspective
B) a social constructionist perspective
C) a macro perspective
D) an interactionist perspective

Question 15

What is an example of a primary sex characteristic?

A) reproductive organs
B) facial hair
C) body hair
D) bone structure

Question 16

What two complementary roles did the functionalist Talcott Parsons identify within the family?

A) conflicting and conciliatory
B) instrumental and expressive
C) interactionist and noninteractionist
D) biological and social

Question 17

According to Talcott Parsons's understanding of the different roles that family members play,which of the following examples could be associated with the expressive role?

A) a mother providing love, care, and affection to her husband and children
B) a father providing for his family by paying the rent and household bills
C) a grandmother babysitting her grandchildren while both parents work
D) a daughter refusing to do homework after school

Question 18

When describing transgender people,some newspapers,magazines,and other media tend to use gender-inappropriate names or pronouns as well as other language that trans persons find insensitive or offensive.This is an example of

A) homophobia.
B) a microaggression.
C) sexism.
D) patriarchy.

Question 19

According to conflict theory,why are women's contributions to family life devalued?

A) The resources provided by men are more valuable than those provided by women.
B) Family life remains the same when no one plays the expressive role.
C) Women are entering the workforce in greater numbers.
D) As a social group, men benefit from maintaining their dominant status.

Question 20

Most sociologists argue that gender is a social construction and they acknowledge the possibility that binary male-female categories are not the only way of classifying individuals.This perspective is called

A) a constructionist perspective.
B) an essentialist perspective.
C) a macro perspective.
D) biological determinism.

Question 21

Why do men usually make more money than women?

A) Men are naturally predisposed to competition.
B) Men have higher levels of testosterone, which gives them an edge in the business world.
C) Employers understand that men are usually their families' breadwinners.
D) Socially constructed categories of employment lead to larger numbers of men than women in many lucrative jobs.

Question 22

In the 1940s and 1950s,Alfred Kinsey surveyed Americans to find out about their sexual behavior.His findings were important because they

A) challenged the view that Americans were either exclusively heterosexual or homosexual.
B) concluded that most Americans were asexual.
C) challenged the belief that Americans were heterosexual.
D) challenged the belief that sexuality can change over the course of a person's life.

Question 23

One reason women are more likely than men to live in poverty is the expense of child care.How do sociologists explain the relationship between poverty rates and child care costs?

A) Women are more likely to be responsible for the "second shift."
B) There are more single women who have sole financial responsibility for their children than single men.
C) Married couples tend to divide their expenses, and women are more likely to be responsible for child care.
D) Women tend to take the expressive role.

Question 24

A man has no sexual attraction of any kind and,though he is romantically interested in other people,he has never felt an interest in or desire for sex.How would this man MOST likely identify?

A) homosexual
B) bisexual
C) asexual
D) gender nonconforming

Question 25

At what point in children's school careers do gender norms become firmly established?

A) by first grade
B) by the sophomore year of high school
C) by fifth grade
D) before the end of high school

Question 26

At what age do babies become aware of their own gender?

A) age two
B) when they begin attending school
C) age six weeks
D) when they start walking

Question 27

Feminist theory has contributed to our understanding of gender by supporting the claim that

A) gender is no longer an influence on social life.
B) gender inequality is rooted in biological differences between men and women.
C) women continue to have unequal positions in society as reflected in the ways their contributions have been written out of history books.
D) only women in positions of power can achieve gender equality.

Question 28

The perspective in sociology that is concerned with how gender is constructed and maintained in our everyday lives is known as

A) essentialism.
B) interactionism.
C) conflict theory.
D) feminism.

Question 29

A woman is married to another woman.She is attracted to her wife but she is also attracted to men.In the past she has dated both women and men.How would this woman MOST likely identify?

A) homosexual
B) bisexual
C) asexual
D) gender nonconforming

Question 30

Which of the following health disorders occurs more often in women than in men?

A) heart disease
B) cancer
C) type 1 diabetes
D) depression

Question 31

When does gender role socialization begin?

A) at birth
B) around puberty
C) when children begin attending school
D) before birth

Question 32

In her ethnography of high school boys titled Dude,You're a Fag,sociologist C.J.Pascoe found that boys often use homophobic slurs toward each other in an effort to define masculinity for themselves and other boys.This is an example of the

A) influence that peers can have as agents of socialization.
B) inability of school officials to manage the behavior of young boys.
C) prestige that boys have over girls in schools.
D) consequences that all-boys schools can have on male behavior.

Question 33

Agnes was raised as a boy before coming out as a transgender woman.What is one of the ways that Agnes began to "do being female" after coming out?

A) She only had brief, meaningless interactions with other people.
B) She showed deference to her male boss.
C) She rejected the expectations of her boyfriend and his family members.
D) She was open about her identify as a transwoman and did not keep it a secret.

Question 34

From an interactionist perspective,what is the MOST important way that schools socialize children into their gender identities?

A) by forcing schoolchildren to wear uniforms
B) by exposing children to mass media
C) by punishing children for minor violations of gender norms on the playground
D) through interactions between teachers and students

Question 35

How do the incomes of single fathers compare with those of single mothers?

A) They are about the same.
B) Single fathers make more money than single mothers in urban areas, but not in rural areas.
C) Single mothers with only one child make more money than single fathers, but not mothers with more children.
D) Single fathers make considerably more money than single mothers.

Question 36

What is "the great equalizer" in terms of health and life expectancy between men and women?

A) smoking
B) handguns
C) college education
D) heart disease

Question 37

Why don't girls,who tend to get better grades than boys,translate their advantage into material success after graduation?

A) They tend to flaunt authority.
B) They are typically credited for hard work rather than intellectual ability.
C) They are poorly socialized.
D) They don't work as hard as males.

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of how teachers treat boys and girls differently in a classroom setting?

A) Boys are less likely than girls to be called on in class.
B) Boys are more likely than girls to be punished for misbehaving.
C) Boys are given less praise than girls for the intellectual quality of their work.
D) Boys are naturally better at math and science, so teachers call on them more.

Question 39

The changing representation of LGBTQ people in the media,such as their greater inclusion and more positive treatment on television shows,can lead us to conclude that

A) LGBTQ people have achieved equal status with heterosexual people.
B) media representation of LGBTQ people is slowly changing to reflect increasing tolerance toward them.
C) heterosexual people want LGBTQ people to be equally represented in the media.
D) LGBTQ people now control major media channels.

Question 40

For what category of crime are women more likely to be arrested than men?

A) burglary
B) murder
C) prostitution
D) theft

Question 41

In The Mismeasure of Women,social psychologist Carol Tavris argues that there is nothing "universal and nonvarying . . .in the natures of men and women." If you agree with her,you would have to reject the concept of

A) essentialism.
B) queer theory.
C) symbolic interactionism.
D) social construction.

Question 42

With what issue is first-wave feminism MOST strongly associated?

A) women's suffrage
B) women's education and equality in the classroom
C) equal opportunity for women in the workplace
D) women's reproductive rights

Question 43

What can be concluded regarding gendered occupations?

A) "Pink collar jobs" are considered more desirable in a patriarchal society.
B) Men tend to be overrepresented in jobs that involve caretaking.
C) Men outnumber women in occupations that entail prestige and higher salaries.
D) Women and men are similarly represented in occupations that require a college degree.

Question 44

In the workplace,aggressive men are often described as "go-getters," but aggressive women are often described as "bitches." This is an example of

A) gender role socialization.
B) a microaggression.
C) romanticism.
D) male liberationism.

Question 45

A five-year-old boy hurts himself while playing with his toys and immediately begins to cry.His father walks over to him and says,"Don't be a sissy; boys don't cry." This is an example of

A) gender role socialization.
B) sexism.
C) transphobia.
D) gender inequality.

Question 46

In 2006,New York City announced that it was moving forward with a plan to allow transgender residents to change the sex listed on their birth certificates.This would be permitted if they had lived in their adopted gender for at least two years,but no physiological change or medical authorization would be required.How is New York City defining gender?

A) New York is separating gender from sex.
B) New York is accepting the principle of human sexual dimorphism.
C) New York is taking an essentialist approach.
D) New York is assuming that gender is stable over time.

Question 47

What term was used by nineteenth-century explorers and missionaries to describe Native Americans who were neither male nor female but somehow both?

A) transsexuals
B) berdaches
C) transvestites
D) queers

Question 48

The names given to positions of power and authority,like "chairman" and "policeman," often emphasize the male gender.Why does this matter?

A) The names imply that one gender is more suited for a particular job than another.
B) The names are confusing because more women are entering these professions.
C) It doesn't really matter what words are used to describe positions.
D) The names help deter men from entering incompatible fields.

Question 49

A same-sex couple holding hands or kissing in public may receive disapproving looks or even abusive comments from other people.This is an example of

A) misogyny.
B) homophobia.
C) transphobia.
D) sexism.

Question 50

Social movements that are organized around a belief in the social,political,and economic equality of the sexes are called

A) sexism.
B) interactionism.
C) queer theory.
D) feminism.

Question 51

The second-wave feminist movement was associated with the issue of

A) gaining voting rights for women.
B) women's equal access to employment and education.
C) rights of women in the Third World.
D) marginalization of black women.

Question 52

Why might LGBTQ rights groups emphasize that homosexuality has a genetic origin?

A) They want to emphasize the importance of difference.
B) They believe that sexuality is closely related to a person's relationship with his or her mother.
C) They believe that if sexual orientation is something we are born with, then discrimination against gays and lesbians is much less acceptable.
D) Gays and lesbians are predisposed to believe in science.

Question 53

The Intersex Society of North America recommends that "surgeries done to make the genitals look 'more normal' should not be performed until a child is mature enough to make an informed decision for herself or himself." Why is this advice necessary given that doctors would usually try to involve a patient in his or her treatment?

A) There are serious health risks associated with being born intersex that must always be addressed immediately.
B) So few people are born intersex that no one knows about them.
C) In our society, the prospect of an ambiguously sexed person seems so threatening that surgical procedures are performed long before a child is old enough to know what is happening.
D) Intersex is based on secondary, not primary, sex characteristics and these won't develop until later in life.

Question 54

A black woman is followed around the store by a white sales associate while shopping for clothes.Frustrated,she leaves the store and decides to go home.Her husband,on seeing her enter the house,asks,"What's for dinner?" What concept could we as sociologists use to understand her experiences,both in the store and at home?

A) gender inequality
B) intersectionality
C) second-wave feminism
D) feminization of poverty

Question 55

Which of the following groups argues that men suffer discrimination as a result of feminism?

A) the Republican Party
B) the men's rights movement
C) third-wave feminists
D) gay and lesbian groups

Question 56

In the opening pages of The Feminine Mystique,Betty Friedan wrote about a problem that "lay buried,unspoken,for many years in the minds of American women." What was this problem?

A) Women didn't have the right to vote.
B) The media imposed unrealistic beauty standards upon women.
C) Women experienced dissatisfaction with traditional gender roles.
D) Employers actively discriminated against women based on their gender.

Question 57

When women are more likely than men to live in poverty,it is often referred to as

A) the wages of sin.
B) the double standard.
C) the feminization of poverty.
D) third-wave feminism.

Question 58

Laura Miller's 1997 study of gender harassment in the military found that

A) men were more likely to be harassed by their fellow trainees, whereas women were more likely to be harassed by their drill sergeants.
B) men were more likely to be harassed by their drill sergeants, whereas women were more likely to be harassed by their fellow trainees.
C) women were most often harassed by their superior officers.
D) men were more likely to report being the object of unwanted gender harassment.

Question 59

In the "On The Job: Female Athletes and the Battle for Equal Pay" box feature,what primary reason is given for the gender pay gap in virtually all occupations?

A) misogyny
B) occupational segregation
C) homophobia
D) patriarchy

Question 60

What criticism do third-wave feminists commonly level against the first two waves of feminism?

A) They marginalized the concerns of women of color, lesbians, and working-class women.
B) They included too many men.
C) They focused too much on jobs and the economy.
D) They compromised too much with men's rights groups.

Question 61

Homer Simpson,a character on the TV show The Simpsons,has a wife who stays home to take care of the children while he works,but he is often responsible for disciplining the children when they are particularly bad.What do you know about Homer even if this is all that you know about the show?

A) Homer represents the average American man.
B) Homer contributes to the feminization of poverty.
C) Homer has taken the instrumental role.
D) Homer is a misogynist.

Question 62

For many years,Saturday Night Live ran a series of skits about a character named Pat.The premise of each skit was that no one could tell if Pat was male or female and the other characters would devise ingenious plots to determine Pat's gender; all attempts failed.The humor in these skits is based on the fact that

A) men have historically had access to most of society's material resources and privileges. Consequently, they generally seek to maintain their dominant status.
B) gender identity is so important to our social selves that we can barely interact with anyone without first determining that person's gender.
C) Pat was trying to avoid being classified as a woman because expressive and instrumental roles may be complementary, but the social rewards for filling them are far from equal.
D) transgender and gender-nonconforming people are challenging old ideas about the relationship between sex and gender.

Question 63

A woman is shown in the vast majority of commercials that advertise cleaning supplies.This illustrates that

A) men never really do any cleaning.
B) women watch more television than men.
C) women's behavior is more easily altered by the media.
D) the media portrays gender roles in highly stereotypical ways.

Question 64

A little girl notices that whenever both of her parents are in the car,her father is always driving.From this,she deduces that women should be passive and men should be active.This process is called

A) sexism.
B) expressive work.
C) social learning.
D) gender inequality.

Question 65

In 2009,South African track star Caster Semenya broke the world record in the 800-meter race.Subsequently,she was asked to prove to the world that she was a woman.The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)subjected her to a complex series of tests that included physical and medical examinations.The controversy over Semenya's gender raises which of the following issues?

A) The IAAF is perpetuating gender inequality in sports.
B) Gender does not vary across cultures.
C) The controversy surrounding Semenya is essentialist.
D) Medical and other physical examinations are often necessary to determine gender.

Question 66

"Welfare queen" is an insulting term for a woman who is accused of cheating the government by collecting welfare payments.There is no "welfare king" insult.What nugget of sociological truth is contained in the phrase "welfare queen"?

A) Women are far more likely to cheat and steal than men.
B) People who use welfare to its fullest extent tend to live very well as indicated by the word "queen."
C) The use of the word "queen" reminds us that women are more likely than men to live in poverty.
D) The use of the word "queen" accurately describes the population that is on welfare, which includes many gay men and transgender people.

Question 67

In the past,bank tellers were overwhelmingly male,but today they are mostly female.What could explain this shift?

A) Changes in technology made the work easier and less important, which drove down the wages and prestige accorded to the job.
B) The gendered division of labor has increasingly spread to areas of the economy that used to be gender neutral.
C) Banks are more heavily regulated by the government than they were in the past, making them more likely to be sexist.
D) The banking industry is much more important in today's globalized economy and this added prestige draws more women to the job.

Question 68

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,replacing a housewife with paid laborers would cost at least $100,000 per year.How could this be interpreted according to conflict theory?

A) The instrumental role is more valuable than the expressive role.
B) Domestic work is a highly functional adaptation that produces gender equality within a family.
C) Men have a great deal to lose if gender segregation disappears.
D) Gender inequality is mostly produced and reproduced through interaction.

Question 69

A math teacher writes story problems that have male characters that are always given an occupation like Bob the janitor or James the lawyer,but the female characters have no occupation.This is an example of the

A) way schools socialize children into gender roles.
B) way men are associated with blue collar work.
C) way boys are given credit for intellectual ability, whereas girls are given credit for hard work.
D) fact that more women than men are now graduating from college.

Question 70

A woman feels that she always needs to act cheerful and look her best when her husband gets home from work because he has a stressful job and he needs her help to unwind.We would say this woman is

A) living outside the gender dichotomy.
B) taking on the instrumental role.
C) taking on the expressive role.
D) a second-wave feminist.

Question 71

You are observing children on an elementary school playground.Why might you find some girls playing sports with boys,but almost no boys playing jump rope with girls?

A) Children are mocked by their peers for crossing gender lines, and boys are mocked more than girls.
B) Boys develop more slowly than girls and, therefore, they tend to not be good at jumping rope when they're in elementary school.
C) Boys are more naturally suited for the physical competition of sports, whereas girls excel at the sort of cooperation that goes into activities like jumping rope.
D) Parents have instructed their children to avoid any cross-gender playground activities because they fear that it will lead to their children being labeled "abnormal."

Question 72

A boy receives a B+ on his English paper with the teacher's comment,"Brilliant insight,but you're lacking focus and have some typos." How is this typical of the way schools treat boys?

A) Boys are given more challenging assignments than girls.
B) Boys are more likely to be punished for horseplay and hyperactivity than girls.
C) Boys are judged mostly on the basis of their effort.
D) Boys are more likely to receive praise for the intellectual quality of their work than girls.

Question 73

The term "deadbeat dad" describes a man who isn't married to his children's mother and isn't helping to support his children financially.Why do we almost never talk about "deadbeat moms"?

A) Men are punished far more harshly than women for violating gender norms.
B) The legal system is biased in favor of men when it comes to divorce and custody cases.
C) Mothers usually remain the primary caregiver even when fathers don't take the instrumental role.
D) Women are not judged as harshly as men for abandoning their children.

Question 74

Sociologists who study gender in rural areas have noticed that only one person is called the "farmer" even though everyone in a family has to work on the farm.The "farmer" is usually male and has more prestige than the other family members working on the farm.This is an example of

A) the "second shift."
B) sexual orientation identity.
C) patriarchy.
D) feminism.

Question 75

Many expectant parents get a sonogram to find out the sex of their babies and they only start decorating the nursery after learning the sex.This is an example of

A) gender role socialization.
B) conflict theory.
C) passing.
D) heteronormativity.

Question 76

A young man is told by his friends that in bars he should drink beer while buying women shots in the hopes of getting the women very drunk and increasing his chance of having sex with them.He tells his friends that they are encouraging

A) transphobia.
B) rape culture.
C) functionalism.
D) men's liberation.

Question 77

In her introduction to a paper about gender,the sociologist Rae Blumberg said that the central principle behind gender in our society is to "remember the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules." What kind of theorist is Blumberg?

A) a theorist who focuses on language and interaction
B) a conflict theorist
C) a functionalist
D) a symbolic interactionist

Question 78

Margaret Mead,an American anthropologist,spent much of her career documenting the ways in which other cultures had gender roles that differed,sometimes radically,from those of twentieth-century America.Why does this matter?

A) It shows that the American version of gender roles is the most advanced in the world.
B) It shows that the meaning of masculinity and femininity differs in different societies.
C) It shows that the physical environment determines gender.
D) It shows that gender is determined at birth and does not change.

Question 79

Medical research has demonstrated that individuals who have higher levels of testosterone are more assertive,dominant,and competitive.The social psychologist Allan Mazur noticed in his study of chess competitions that testosterone levels rose in chess players before a match and then rose again in the match's winner,but they fell in the loser.What does this suggest about the origin of gender?

A) Hormones play a much larger role in gender than is usually acknowledged.
B) Nature is the most important factor in determining gender.
C) Gender is completely social in origin and our bodies are simply arbitrary vessels for society to guide.
D) Gender comes from an interaction between biology and social contexts.

Question 80

Judge Aaron Persky was asked by prosecutors to sentence a man found guilty of rape to six years in prison.Instead,Aaron Persky handed down a sentence of six months in county jail.Many felt that by handing down a light sentence for a serious crime,Aaron Persky was normalizing

A) transphobia.
B) intersectionality.
C) the feminization of poverty.
D) rape culture.