Chapter 1: What Is Gender and Why Should We Care About It? Introducing Gender

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The practice of reading physical and social cues in order to determine whether someone is a woman or a man is known as ______.

A. gender assignment

B. cisgender

C. cultural genitalia

D. gender attribution

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Swimming With the Fishes: Learning to See Gender

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. The text refers to learning the process of “seeing gender,” which in this case means ______.

A. being able to identify the gender of people on the street

B. learning what body types are specifically associated with each gender

C. learning to see the invisible ways in which gender affects our lives

D. recognizing that gender is a biological attribute

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Swimming With the Fishes: Learning to See Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Identifying someone’s race as White based on the color of their skin demonstrates the concept of ______.

A. the Thomas principle

B. the biosocial approach

C. the structural approach

D. natural selection

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. The idea that “if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” is known as the ______.

A. Thomas principle

B. Ryle principle

C. historical principle

D. institutional principle

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Drawing upon the Thomas principle, the high rates of police violence against Black people supports the claim that ______.

A. race and gender are real categories based on biological reality

B. situations defined as real become real in their consequences

C. racist stereotypes are based on biological reality

D. people attracted to policing are inherently violent

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. Analyzing the many ways in which gender is socially constructed in different societies around the world is an example of which of the following?

A. essentialist perspective

B. cross-cultural approach

C. functionalist perspective

D. feminist approach

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The theory that analyzes how the interaction of race, gender, social class, sexuality, and other identities affects our lives is referred to as ______.

A. intersexuality

B. cultural feminism

C. intersectionality

D. social constructionism

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender and Intersectionality

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. A Christian woman who wears no head covering and assumes that a Muslim woman’s head covering is oppressive demonstrates a lack of understanding of ______.

A. intersectionality

B. sex

C. gender

D. race

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Gender and Intersectionality

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Which of the following are the two key sources of evidence that are commonly used to support the social constructionist perspective?

A. historical and cross-cultural comparisons

B. nurture and nature arguments

C. biological and evolutionary arguments

D. racial and gender intersections

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The fact that 19th-century arguments about the racial inferiority of non-Whites are no longer accepted as true supports which of the following conclusions?

A. Race is an immutable biological characteristic.

B. Race can be scientifically validated through quantitative research.

C. Race is socially constructed because ideas dominant at one time in history are now rejected.

D. The civil rights movement did not change the reality of racial inequality.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The social meaning that is assigned to biological differences between males and females is known as ______.

A. sexual dimorphism

B. gender

C. sex

D. sexual category

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sex or Gender: What’s the Difference?

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. The biological differences between people we call males and females are known as ______.

A. sexual dimorphism

B. gender

C. sex

D. sexuality

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sex or Gender: What’s the Difference?

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The statement “Our experiences with gender vary based on historical time period and place, yet there are limitations to that experience based on the biological reality of male and female bodies” would align best with which theoretical perspective?

A. essentialist perspective

B. social construction perspective

C. biosocial perspective

D. feminist perspective

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. The belief that there are two physically and genetically discrete categories of people--males and females--is defined as ______.

A. sexual dimorphism

B. intersectionality

C. gender difference

D. sexual fluidity

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. A doctor’s determination that a baby is a boy or a girl based on their genitalia is a process referred to as ______.

A. gender attribution

B. gender determinism

C. cultural gender

D. gender assignment

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. The assumption that a person with facial hair is a man demonstrates the concept of ______.

A. cultural genitalia

B. biological genitalia

C. biological attribution

D. cultural attribution

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of the following areas of evidence supports a strong social constructionist approach?

A. The physical body develops independently of ideas about gender.

B. Intersex people are real evidence of sexual dimorphism.

C. Sex categories are consistent across time and place.

D. Sex is categorized differently in various cultures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender and Bodies

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The text discusses a study which found that Orthodox Jewish girls have developed stronger bone mass than boys because the girls are more physically active and are not expected to spend as much time studying religious texts. This example demonstrates that ______.

A. biological differences can be influenced by social reality

B. social differences can be influenced by biological reality

C. sex differences are not culturally determined

D. sex shapes gender

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Gender and Bodies

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. People born with XX chromosomes but masculinization of genitalia have ______.

A. androgen insensitivity syndrome

B. sexual dimorphism disorder

C. androgen hypersensitivity syndrome

D. congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The common practice of surgically altering the genitalia of babies born with ambiguous genitalia to more closely resemble male or female sex characteristics suggests the prevalence of which of the following?

A. biological determinism

B. sexual dimorphism

C. social essentialism

D. gender performance

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. ______ is the term used to describe people who have a wide variety of physical traits that lead to ambiguous sex categorization:

A. Nonbinary

B. Intersex

C. Androgynous

D. Pansexual

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Some intersex individuals develop hormones that give them secondary sex characteristics that are associated with a man or a woman, despite having ambiguous genitalia and sex organs. This fact demonstrates that ______.

A. sexual dimorphism is universal

B. sex hormones develop in prepubescent children

C. human variation does not fit neatly into sex categories

D. hormones and genitalia are congruent

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. ______ is a broad label that categorizes people who seek to expose, subvert and, in some cases, change culturally defined gender categories.

A. Pansexual

B. Transgender

C. Cisgender

D. Androgynous

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Transgender People and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Advocates of which theoretical perspective would make the following argument, “It is culture that dictates how we see sex”?

A. essentialist perspective

B. social construction perspective

C. biosocial perspective

D. Marxist perspective

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. Which approach considers intersex and transgender people an aberration that must be fit into a dimorphic system?

A. strong social constructionist

B. essentialist

C. feminist

D. biosocial

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Intersex conditions are estimated to occur at a rate of ______.

A. 1.7% of all births

B. 10% of all births

C. 35.2% of all births

D. 96.0% of all births

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. The ancient Greeks’ belief that the vagina and the penis were different variations of the same organ demonstrates the ______.

A. one-sex model

B. sex hierarchy model

C. biological model

D. constructionist model

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. Which of the following is an example of a culture that embraces a third sex category?

A. hijra of India

B. Masai of Kenya

C. Yanomamo of Brazil

D. K’iche of Guatemala

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Easy

29. The existence of a third sex category among the sworn virgins of the Balkans and kathoeys of Thailand supports the claim that ______.

A. Sexual dimorphism is universal.

B. Different societies construct different kinds of sex categories.

C. Sex categories are biologically determined.

D. Sexual meanings influence our notion of culture.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which of the following is an example of a social constructionist argument?

A. Male and female categories accurately represent the reality of physical bodies.

B. Cultural beliefs about bodies are reflective of biological variation.

C. Biological sex categories are binary.

D. Social ideas about sex categories prevent society from seeing actual biological reality.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Word About Biology and Strong Social Constructionism

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. ______ is the term used to identify people whose sex category and gender identity align.

A. Transgender

B. Intersex

C. Cisgender

D. Demisexual

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Some Notes About Vocabulary

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Gender assignment is the process of reading physical and social cues to decide whether someone is a man or a woman.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Swimming With the Fishes: Learning to See Gender

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Trying to determine whether the person walking down the street is a man or a woman demonstrates the process of “seeing” gender.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Swimming With the Fishes: Learning to See Gender

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Intersectionality refers to people who are intersex.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender and Intersectionality

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Social constructionists believe that sex and gender can change across time and across cultures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. People who contradict prevailing social ideas about gender are referred to as transgender.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Transgender People and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Historical variations in gender (i.e., diverse views and practices of gender over time) are one source of evidence used to support the social constructionist perspective.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Gender is the biological difference between people we call males and females.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sex or Gender: What’s the Difference?

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The Thomas principle states that if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender and the Social Construction of Reality

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. According to the biosocial approach, both sex and gender are socially constructed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The terms intersex and transgender can be used interchangeably to refer to the same group of people.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The biosocial approach asserts that gender is constantly changing depending on time and place.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The text generally embraces a biosocial perspective on gender and asserts that contemporary gender differences are a product of biological processes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sex or Gender?

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The finding that differences in bone mass between Orthodox Jewish boys and girls are attributed to differences in social behavior supports the social constructionist approach to gender.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Gender and Bodies

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Transgender is a term that refers to individuals who are sexually attracted to the opposite sex.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Transgender People and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Define social constructionism, and discuss one historical or cross-cultural variation in gender that exemplifies the social constructionist approach.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Historical and Cross-Cultural Evidence

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Compare and contrast the biosocial approach and strong social constructionist approach to gender. What are their key similarities and differences?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach | A Strong Social Constructionist Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Define sexual dimorphism. How is this concept central to the biosocial approach? How have social constructionists challenged sexual dimorphism?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Biosocial Approach | A Strong Social Constructionist Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What does the term “intersex” mean? How do intersex individuals pose a challenge to conventional beliefs about sex and gender?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Analyze and explain the statement “our social beliefs can have a crucial impact on bodies.” Which approach is supported by this claim?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Gender and Bodies

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Discuss the difference between transgender and intersex. How do these categorizations respectively support the social constructionist approach?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex | Transgender People and the Social Construction of Sex

Difficulty Level: Medium