Gender Issues in Counseling

What percentage of the population are estimated to be intersex or transgender?

10 percent

Gender binary glasses

allow us to separate everything we see into masculine and feminine categories.

The word "sex" refers to

biological differences in primary and secondary sexual characteristics.

Danielle was born with XXY chromosomes. She is someone who is

intersex

On which of the following traits do men and women exhibit the strongest sexual dimorphism?

sexual identity and sexual object choice

Our brains often form ideas that are clustered around the concepts of masculinity and femininity. Children, for example, will often assume that a firefighter is male. This assumption, which is based on learned ideas about masculinity, is a good example of the term

"associative memory."

What types of hormones can be found in male-bodied and female-bodied individuals?

All human hormones circulate in male-bodied and female-bodied individuals. Some hormones do so in different proportions.

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

All-American Girl

Andre and Anna are both plumbers. Which category do Andre and Anna belong to?

Andre belongs to the unmarked category while Anna belongs to the marked category because plumbers are assumed to be male.

Researchers have found that men who are active parents usually 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 such as 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, and men are more likely than women to engage in activities that develop the skill of mental rotation.

Dr. Sanchez has analyzed standardized test results for two countries and discovered that in Country 1 there are almost identical distributions of physics scores for male and female students, while in Country 2 male students performed better than female students. Which explanation best accounts for these differences in scores?

Country 1 is a more gender-equal society than Country 2.

How does one "do gender" in society?

Doing gender means that we passively obey, and also break, gender rules.

What does it mean to say that gender is a social construct?

Gender is understood through shared interpretations and meaning. The terms "masculine" and "feminine" are easily understood and shared by members of a society.

Which of the following best characterizes gender policing?

Gender policing is something we sometimes do to ourselves and our best friends with the best of intentions.

What is one reason why individuals break gender rules?

Gender rules can be viewed as personally undesirable or socially wrong.

Why do most of us do gender, at least a little, in our everyday interactions?

If you don't do gender, you become culturally unintelligible and people will not know how to interact with you.

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

In the 1800s, Chinese men lived together without wives and performed domestic tasks for themselves.

_____________ reminds us that gender is not an isolated social fact, but in fact affects, and is affected by, other facets of our identity.

Intersectionality

If the gender binary doesn't describe a large number of the people we know, where does the idea come from?

It comes from the idea that most people have that there needs to be a system that states there are two types of people- male-bodied who are masculine and female-bodied who are feminine. it is a way for people to categorize and have a better understanding of the world. People also use the gender binary to put people into boxes and label.

What is one reason why some lesbians and gay men choose not to conform to gender rules?

It makes same-sex sexual orientation invisible

What do we learn from comparing the degree of sexual dimorphism among humans to that of other species?

Men and women are far more similar than they are different.

Why are there a lot more Super Moms than Super Dads and fewer female Breadwinners than male Breadwinners?

Men are less likely to be policed than women if they focus on their work.

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

Men have two options for looking attractive: young boy or adult man, while women have only one option: young girl.

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.

Michelle believes that humans have always held very different and distinct gender roles. Does human history support her view?

No, because for much of humanity's existence, humans lived together in kin groups, in which men and women shared collective responsibilities and substituted for one another.

Andrew is genetically male, and he believes that his Y chromosome is the source of a large number of sex differences between his genetically female sister and himself. Is he correct?

No, because the Y chromosome only has a minimal impact on genetically male individuals. Research suggests it simply gives XY fetuses functioning testes and facilitates male fertility.

A woman who does not do femininity finds her gender identity constantly questioned by suspicious clerks. Why is that?

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

What does the Implicit Association Test (IAT) demonstrate?

Our brains often associate feminine and masculine items with one another; it takes longer to identify a name as male if it was preceded by a feminized word rather than a masculinized word.

How have ideas about the categories of male and female changed over time?

Seventeenth-century European anatomists believed that females had the same bodies as males, only inverted; however, today we know that female and male bodies are neither the same nor absolute opposites.

Which one of the following statements best describes the claims of the learning model of socialization?

Socialization is a lifelong process of learning and relearning gendered expectations and how to negotiate them.

According to the textbook, how do gender ideologies operate around the world?

Some societies view gender through a gender binary while others acknowledge three, four, or five genders.

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.

Sumi is raising twins. One twin is genetically male and the other twin is genetically female. How different are their brains expected to be?

The genetically male twin's brain is most likely larger than the genetically female twin's brain.

Why are guys who dress up like women at Halloween unlikely to be victims of hate crimes?

The guys can use Halloween to account for their behavior.

Identical twins become genotypically different over time. How can this be explained?

Their environment and experiences affect how their genes are expressed.

How do transgender people provide evidence that the gender binary fails to describe reality?

Their gender identities don't match their perceived sex.

In the Dominican Republic, a rare genetic condition made male children appear to be female until puberty, at which time what had been thought to be a clitoris grew into a penis and their testes suddenly descended from their abdomen. What happened then?

These children would adopt masculine identities and live as men the rest of their lives.

Immigrant couples often abandon Breadwinner/Supportive Spouse strategies in favor of economic interdependence when they arrive in the United States. What is one reason why couples do so?

They are adjusting to a new economic class.

Around age six, children become very concerned with doing gender correctly. What does this rigidity tell us about gender norms?

They are learning that gender rules are important, but haven't yet figured out whether and how to break them.

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

They are responsive to external efforts to shift or disrupt them.

How do people with intersex bodies provide evidence that the gender binary fails to describe reality?

They have chromosomes that do not match either XX or XY.

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

They may feel that they are performing whiteness

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

They try to be socially assertive.

Which of the following statements is TRUE of gender policing?

We police ourselves and others, and even recruit others to help us police ourselves.

How do class and ability intersect in the gendered strategies men adopt?

Wealthy, disabled men use their financial resources to gain independence.

Compulsory heterosexuality can be defined as

a gender rule that men be attracted to women and women be attracted to men.

Which individual is the LEAST likely to be policed

a short, thin cisgender woman

If a lesbian woman who moved to France from the United States conformed to French expectations, she would

accentuate her lesbian identity less

Hannah recently married George. Hannah decided to keep her maiden name after marriage, which is a deviation from gender rules. Hannah often tells people that the reason she kept her maiden name is for professional reasons, since she already has published articles under that name. This explanation is a good example of

an account

Which of the following is an example of gender policing?

asking a guy why he shaves his legs

Ageism is an institutionalized preference that

associates aging with decreased social value

Someone who reads the words "wrestling," "pickup truck," and "steak" and then automatically thinks "man" is experiencing the effect of

associative memory

What is one cost that white middle-class women and men risk by performing a gender strategy that is stereotyped as "normal"?

being perceived as boring, unexciting, and plain

Juliana does a lot of __________ in her daily life. She works as a lawyer, so she wears professional pant and skirt suits to work every day. When she comes home, though, she often likes to go to yoga to unwind, so she changes into yoga pants and tank tops to wear to her yoga classes. Depending on the context, how she does femininity changes.

cultural traveling

Ellen believes that all gender differences are the product of our environments; we learn and are socialized into gender differences. Ellen believes in a __________ explanation of gender differences.

culturalist

Which of the following best conveys the meaning of the term "gender rules"?

culturally specific instructions for how to appear and behave as a man or a woman

The fact that men are more likely than women to get breast reductions and women are more likely than men to get breast implants is an example of

efforts to enhance the illusion of the gender binary.

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 had not mastered these tasks.

Henry has categorized fish as feminine and sharks as masculine. On further reflection, he has refined the categorization of fish. He categorizes passive fish, such as goldfish and clownfish, as feminine, while he categorizes aggressive, carnivorous fish, like piranhas and goliath tigerfish, as masculine. Henry has done a good job of demonstrating

gender binary subdivision

) Lillian does not have a fixed gender identity. What term best describes them?

gender fluid

Nathan and Olivia have both joined an online dating site. Nathan posts photos of himself playing soccer, while Olivia posts photos of herself wearing dresses, high heels, and makeup. Nathan and Olivia have both demonstrated the importance of __________ in society.

gender rules

Kiki is an able-bodied, African American sexual minority. Her __________ helps her do gender in a way that accounts for all of her social identities.

gender strategy

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

gender strategy

Michael is a male-bodied person. He says to Alex that he views himself as a male. What is Michael communicating to Alex?

his gender identity

Daniel is attracted to men and has a male partner. He is an avid football fan, and he exudes physical strength and toughness. What strategy is Daniel using?

homonormativity

Many women enjoy dressing up, dancing, and flirting at a club. This is an example of

how following gender rules can be a source of pleasure.

According to the authors of your textbook, American men usually don't deliberate about whether to pee sitting down or standing up. This is an example of

how gender rules become internalized as habits

What conditions make it more likely that Roberto will adopt a Breadwinner gender strategy?

if he is promoted to partner at a law firm and his wife loses her job

What conditions make it more likely that Julia will adopt a Family Focused gender strategy?

if she faces limited job opportunities and is married to a man with a high-paying job

What conditions make it more likely that Danielle will adopt a Super Mom gender strategy?

if she is a single mother and doesn't make enough money to hire outside help

The authors of your textbook argue that we are complicated individuals with unique and multilayered identities. What term describes this perspective?

intersectionality

The injection idea of socialization fails to explain how people learn to do gender because

it assumes there is one coherent set of gender rules that children learn and apply throughout their lives.

Gender policing works on women because

just like men, they have to pay attention to what others think of their performance of gender.

The __________ model of socialization suggests that socialization is a lifelong process of learning and relearning gendered expectations.

learning

According to research, testosterone is correlated with visual-spatial ability. Which individuals typically perform the best on visual-spatial tests?

low-testosterone men and high-testosterone women

What types of people are recognized within society's gender binary?

male-bodied people who are masculine and female-bodied people who are feminine

The way that children do gender is

more rigid and binary than the way adults do gender because they are still learning the rules in all their complexity.

Jack believes that all gender differences are biological and exist independently of our environments. Jack believes in a __________ explanation of gender differences.

naturalist

Willow believes that gender is the most important social identity. According to the textbook, is Willow correct?

no, because all of our social identities interact with one another to shape our lives in complex ways

Considering biological causes of gender differences more immutable than social ones is a mistake because

our hormones and our genes are designed to respond to culture.

According to the authors of your textbook, what does a "gaydar" really detect?

people who deviate from gender norms

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

practicing gender conformity

Imagine that you are conducting a test in which you wish to increase the empathy scores of male participants. Which of the following interventions would you choose?

present statistics showing that women are attracted to sensitive men

Dr. Howard asks a group of men to identify themselves by their gender before giving them a test of heroism. What concept is Dr. Howard demonstrating?

priming

Which of the following descriptions best conveys the meaning of the term "gender policing"?

responses to violations of gender rules aimed at promoting conformity

A preschooler who told a classmate that "everybody has a penis but only girls wear barrettes" was

revealing how meaningful gender performance is, no matter what body someone has.

In Ethan Zell's analysis of over 21,000 measures of possible differences between men and women, he found that observed gender differences were most often

small.

Research suggests that __________ are more likely to be remembered, and remembered correctly, than __________.

stereotype-consistent experiences; stereotype-inconsistent experiences

What is brain plasticity?

the brain's lifelong ability to respond to its environment

The gender gap in math performance varies within and across countries. The countries with the smallest difference between their male and female students are those with

the greatest degree of overall gender equality.

Leo carries a gene for aggression, but he has never been violent. He was raised in a happy and peaceful household. Lydia, on the other hand, carries the same gene, but she has had several violent episodes in adolescence. She was raised in a physically abusive household. Which explanation best explains why Lydia has been violent but Leo has not?

the influence of environmental factors on our gene expression

The word "gender" refers to

the symbolism of masculinity and femininity that we connect to being male-bodied or female-bodied.

What is sexual dimorphism?

the typical differences between males and females of a species

If Anna is a female-bodied individual who identifies as female, how could she best use gender expression to communicate her identity to those around her?

through her appearance, dress, and behavior

Which of the following is an example of a Gentle Black Man strategy?

whistling classical music while walking down the street at night

Distinction is an important concept for understanding the sociology of gender because

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

In our gender binary, __________chromosomes are associated with males, while __________ chromosomes are associated with females.

xy;xx

When the authors emphasize that, when a child gets a pair of gender binary glasses, it's just the first pair, they mean to say that

young children perceive gender in their society, but they may do so differently than when they are adults.