Sex, gender, and society Exam 1

What is one example of how gendered rules apply differently to men and women as they age?

Women face ageism everywhere, while men do not.

What term describes the set of actions we take to manage opportunities and constraints and affirm a valued gender identity in a specific way?

Gender strategy

What is one particular cost black women who employ the Girly Girl gender strategy may face?

They may be seen as sellouts and feel like they are performing whiteness.

What is one gender strategy that is available to many attractive middle-class white women that is not as easily available to black and Asian women, based largely on how they look?

All-American Girl

Tough Guise 2 argues that violence against women and girls should be viewed as a/an ___________ issue.

Boys' and men's

What percentage of the population are estimated to be intersexed?

1%

Tough Guise 2 argues that there is a rising argument in popular culture that men have grown too soft and this is described as:

A culture in retreat

What is hegemonic masculinity?

An idealized and unattainable notion of a man who embodies all the traits associated with masculinity.

Why might men who rank low in the masculine hierarchy still defend hegemonic masculinity?

Because it assures them that they're perceived as superior to women.

Researchers have found that men who are active parents have lower levels of testosterone than men who do not participate in parenting. Which of the following claims does this support?

Behavior affects the body's production of hormones like testosterone.

Researchers have observed differences in the visual-spatial abilities of men and women, such as in performing the task of mental rotation. What is the most plausible cause of such differences?

Cognitive skills are affected by instruction and practice. Men are more likely than women to engage in activities that develop the skill of mental rotation.

Which of the following descriptions best conveys the meaning of the phrase gender policing?

Conformity-promoting responses to violations of the gender binary in particular situations.

In Tough Guise 2, Jackson Katz describes the _________ as the way in which African-American men and other men of color in urban areas often adopt a hyper-masculine, menacing persona to signal that they're still men.

Cool pose

Which of the following best conveys the meaning of the phrase gender rules?

Culturally specific instructions for how a man or a woman of a certain social status should appear and behave

Kimmel agrees with the biological explanation for the age gap in death between men and women; on average, men die younger than women because of their biology. T/F

False

Kimmel believes that sex role theory is an accurate explanation of gender. T/F

False

T/F. According to the documentary (Growing Up Trans), there is plentiful medical research about cross sex hormones which helps families make decisions about their children's transition.

False

T/F. Every person in the documentary (Growing Up Trans) reported being happy regarding their decision to transition; no one had any second thoughts. (Note: This does not include their parents' thoughts or feelings.)

False

T/F. For the majority of the kids in the documentary (Growing Up Trans), puberty was something they looked forward to.

False

T/F. The term "Intersectionality" was created when a group of black men sued General Motors for discrimination in 1976.

False

T/F. West & Zimmerman believe that "Doing Gender" is avoidable.

False

T/F. When individuals face identity-based discrimination at the intersectionof multiple identity categories, courts respond by applying the Equal Protection Clause to address the discrimination.

False

The term sex refers to the symbolism of masculinity and femininity that we connect to being male or female. T/F

False

During her research in the community of Gerai in West Borneo, anthropologist Christine Helliwell described how her gender was uncertain among the Dayak for the duration of her fieldwork. This was because:

For the Dayak, a "woman" is a person who excels at distinguishing types of rice and its preparation, but Helliwell did not master these tasks.

(Growing Up Trans) Alex's friends provide him with tips on how to act like a boy instead of a girl. In response, Alex shares, "The tactics and all the information they're giving me—I definitely use it. Like sometimes I know I will slip up a bit. But their tips are amazing and I'll go with them." Which of the following explanations or concepts we've learned in class best describes this interaction?

Gender Role Theory

Which of the following is a culturalist explanation of gender differences?

Gender differences are purely the product of learning and socialization

In "Codes of Gender," Danica Patrick (the female race car driver) is uses as an example to illuminate which of the following:

Gender display

Estrogens and androgens are both types of activational hormones released by glands or cells in the human body. Which of the following statements best describes their relationship to sex differences?

Hormones have been linked to only a few of the differences between males and females

Which of the following is a true statement regarding the relationship between hormones and gender?

Hormones produce gender differences and similarities, and respond to gendered and ungendered social experiences.

Many women enjoy dressing up and putting on makeup in preparation for a night out. This is an example of:

How following gender rules can be a source of pleasure.

In "Codes of Gender" Professor Sut Jhally discusses the "Ritualization of Subordination" of women displayed in ads. Which of the following is NOT used as an example of this process:

Images of gay men

Which one of the following examples demonstrates that gender ideologies vary considerably from culture to culture?

In Albania, girls can live as boys and grow up to be socially recognized men. In Afghanistan, families without sons pick a daughter to become a boy. This way the child "dressed up like a boy" can obtain an extensive education and/or support their family by working outside the home. The Dutch do not teach children that men have "male" hormones and women have "female" hormones, but that hormone levels vary among men and among women and that these levels rise and fall in response to different situations and as people of both sexes age.

In the United States, Asian American men became stereotyped as less masculine than white men partly as a result of what historical fact?

In the 1870s and 1880s, Chinese and Japanese men were brought to the United States to work as sex slaves.

The way that children do gender is often:

Increasingly inflexible as they learn ever more rules about doing gender correctly.

As described in the "Codes of Gender," advertisements of women shown with their hands touching their mouths, hiding behind men, in displays where they "ham it up for the camera," is best described by which of the following:

Infantilization of Women

Which of the following is NOT one of the critiques of Intersectionality as described by Crenshaw ?

Intersectionality highlights identity and its relationship to power.

Which of the following is FALSE regarding "Intersectionality?"

It is a legal term that has to do with the discrimination of people of color.

What is the correct definition of patriarchy?

Legal as well as normative control of female and younger male family members by select adult men.

According to the Kimmel reading, sociology adds which three crucial dimensions to the study of gender?

Life-course perspective, institutional analyses, and the interactionist approach

What is one way in which some Asian American men and women resist the stereotypes associating them with femininity?

They try to be socially outgoing.

Not all men have the same degree of muscularity. Which of the following explanations best describes why this is the case?

Men vary in the number of muscle fibers they are born with, the activities in which they engage, and their hormonal response to exercise.

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between nature (human biology), nurture (socialization), and gender differences?

Nature and nurture are inseparable: they work together to produce observed sex differences.

Which of the following groups are considered to be members of subordinated masculinities in the United States?

Nerds, dorks, and geeks. Older men, disabled men, and gays. Poor men and men of color.

A woman who doesn't do femininity finds her gender identity constantly questioned by suspicious others. Why is that?

Not doing gender in ways that make sense to others is a communicative crisis for these others; they don't know what to think or do.

Which of the following is NOT true of patriarchal bargains?

Patriarchal bargains protect men from the fear of emasculation.

Which of the following facts or statements is evidence that the gender binary fails to describe reality?

People with intersexed bodies, Transsexuals (transgender individuals), We feel compelled to work hard to make our body appear feminine or masculine.

Sociologist Michael Messner described how in his youth he bullied a nonathletic boy while participating in sports himself. This is an example of:

Policing masculinity

What is one strategy that some gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals adopt to avoid homophobia?

Practicing gender conformity

What conditions make it more likely that a woman will adopt a Supermom gender strategy?

She is married to a man with a high-paying job and loses her job.

The statement--our identities are a fluid assemblage of the meanings and behaviors that we construct from the values, images, and prescriptions we find in the world around us--best describes which of the following perspectives on gender?

Social Construction

Men's and women's marathon records have become both faster and closer together over time. This provides evidence for which of the following statements?

The athletic ability of female bodies has been shaped to a large extent by social context.

What is sexual dimorphism?

The average differences between males and females of a species

According to a social constructionist approach to gender, which of the following statements is NOT true?

The gender binary is universal.

Which of the following descriptions best conveys the meaning of the term gender binary?

The idea that there are two types of people - male-bodied people who are masculine and female-bodied people who are feminine

Why are guys who dress up in drag like women at Halloween, and give a parody performance of doing femininity, unlikely to be victims of gender policing or hate crimes?

The social meanings and customs of Halloween provide an account for their behavior.

What is meant by the idea that many biological characteristics are mutable?

They are responsive to external influences

According to Kimmel, gender is something we "do" in constant interaction with others, throughout our lives. T/F

True

In agreement with C. Wright Mills, Kimmel would argue that to a sociologist, our biographies and histories are gendered. T/F

True

Kimmel argues that theories of gender are inadequate without being understood in the context of power. T/F

True

T/F. In Tough Guise 2, Jackson Katz argues that violent masculinity is a taught versus a learned behavior.

True

T/F. Majors and Billson reason that the "Cool Pose" is a mask that Black men in the U.S. wear in order to reclaim masculinity.

True

T/F. The "Toy Ads & Learning Gender" video clip argues that in order to alleviate the potential negative socialization effects of gendered toy ads we should stop advertising directed specifically at young people altogether, no exceptions.

True

Which one of the following statements most accurately describes doing gender?

We become so used to using our bodies in certain gendered ways that we don´t have to think about doing gender most of the time, even though we do it.

How does our associative memory work to make the gender binary seem more real than it is?

We constantly overlook, forget, or misremember any exceptions to the gender binary.

According to the theory that we "do gender,"

We do gender all the time

Which of the following statements best describes the meaning of hegemony?

Widely shared beliefs that make inequality seem inevitable or natural.

Distinction is a foundation concept for an understanding of the sociology of gender because:

Without distinguishing men from women, there would be no basis for gender difference or inequality.

Why are there a lot more Supermoms than Superdads and fewer female Breadwinners than male Breadwinners?

Women are still held disproportionately responsible for housework and childcare.

When Wade and Ferree emphasize that, when a child gets a pair of gender binary glasses, it's just their first pair, they mean to say that::

Young children perceive gender in their society but differently than they may when they are adults.

Compulsory heterosexuality can be defined as:

a social rule that all men be attracted to women and all women be attracted to men.

Which of the following is the best example of gender policing?

making a joke to a guy about having shaved his legs

Studies on language processes in our brain have demonstrated that the words human, individual, and person tend to conjure up cognitive images of men, not men and women. This finding reflects the cultural idea that:

most people see men as people and women as a special kind of female person.

What is the correct definition of androcentrism?

regarding masculine traits and activities as more important and valuable than women's

What is the correct definition of gender subordination?

the routine positioning of women as men's helpers and dependents