MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Distinction is an important concept for understanding the sociology of gender because
a. without distinguishing men from women, there would be no basis for gender difference or inequality.
b. empowering women is based on achievement and distinguishing oneself from others.
c. there are two, distinct sexes, and the difference is gender.
d. gender inequality is distinctively different from other types of inequality and operates on different principles.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate MSC: Understanding REF: CH01 –Introduction
2. The word “sex” refers to
a. biological differences in primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
b. the symbolism of masculinity and femininity that we connect to being male-bodied or female-bodied.
c. the fact that the shape of our body may not extend to how a person feels or acts.
d. the primary way we naturalize and justify inequality.
ANS: A DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH01 –Introduction
3. The word “gender” refers to
a. biological differences in primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
b. the symbolism of masculinity and femininity that we connect to being male-bodied or female-bodied.
c. the fact that the shape of our body may not extend to how we feel or act.
d. the primary way we naturalize and justify inequality.
ANS: B DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH01 –Introduction
4. How have ideas about the categories of male and female changed over time?
a. Seventeenth-century European anatomists believed that females had the same bodies as males, only inverted,
while today we know that female and male bodies are completely opposite.
b. Seventeenth-century European anatomists believed the female body was completely opposite from the male body. By
contrast, we now know that all female and male genitalia develop from the same fetal tissue.
c. 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.
d. Seventeenth-century European anatomists believed the female body was completely opposite from the male body;
however, today we know that female and male bodies are neither the same nor absolute opposites.
ANS: C DIF: Difficult MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas
1
,2 | Chapter 2
5. What types of people are recognized within society’s gender binary?
a. male-bodied people who are masculine and female-bodied people who are feminine
b. male-bodied people who are masculine or feminine and female-bodied people who are masculine or feminine
c. male-bodied people who are feminine and female-bodied p eople who are masculine
d. male-bodied people who are masculine, female-bodied p eople who are feminine, and intersex p eople who are
masculine and feminine
ANS: A DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | Gender Ideologies
6. Danielle was born with XXY chromosomes. She is someone who is
a. gender fluid.
b. gender queer.
c. intersex.
d. transgender.
ANS: C DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies
7. Michael is a male-bodied person. He says to Alex that he views himself as a male. What is Michael communicating to
Alex?
a. the gender binary
b. his gender expression
c. his gender fluidity
d. his gender identity
ANS: D DIF: Easy MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies
8. 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?
a. through her occupational choices
b. through her appearance, dress, and behavior
c. through her choice of romantic partners
d. through her political ideologies
ANS: B DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies
9. In our gender binary, __________chromosomes are associated with males, while __________ chromosomes are
associated with females.
a. XX; XY
b. XXY; XY
c. XY; XX
d. XYY; XX
ANS: C DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies
10. How do people with intersex bodies provide evidence that the gender binary fails to describe reality?
a. They have chromosomes that do not match either XX or XY.
b. Their gender identities do not match their perceived sex.
c. Their gender identities always match their perceived sex.
d. They have chromosomes that match either XX or XY.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate MSC: Understanding REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies | The 10 Percent
11. How do transgender people provide evidence that the gender binary fails to describe reality?
a. They have chromosomes that do not match either XX or XY.
b. Their gender identities don’t match their perceived sex.
c. Their gender identities always match their perceived sex.
d. They have chromosomes that match e ither XX or XY.
ANS: B DIF: Moderate MSC: Understanding REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies | The 10 Percent
, Ideas | 3
12. Lillian does not have a fixed gender identity. What term best describes them?
a. cisgender
b. gender fluid
c. female-bodied
d. transgender
ANS: B DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and our Bodies | The 10 Percent
13. According to the textbook, how do gender ideologies operate around the world?
a. All societies throughout history have viewed gender through a gender binary.
b. In the 1600s and 1700s, societies around the world acknowledged three, four, or five genders, but today all societies
view gender through a gender binary.
c. Most societies throughout history have acknowledged three, four, or five genders.
d. Some societies view gender through a gender binary while others acknowledge three, four, or five genders.
ANS: D DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | Gender Ideologies
14. 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
a. they didn’t know she had breasts and a vulva due to the sarong she wore.
b. for the Dayak, a “woman” has children, and at that time Helliwell didn’t have any.
c. 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.
d. for the Dayak, a high-ranking “woman” counts as a man, and they w ere uncertain how to classify her position in
society.
ANS: C DIF: Moderate MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | Gender Ideologies
15. 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?
a. These children would keep their feminine identities and cover their genitals for the rest of their lives.
b. These children would be women but would remain sexually inactive for the rest of their lives.
c. These children would grow with the stigma of having abnormal bodies.
d. These children would adopt masculine identities and live as men the rest of their lives.
ANS: D DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | Gender Ideologies
16. What percentage of the population are estimated to be intersex or transgender?
a. 10 percent
b. 0.2 percent
c. 95 percent
d. 1 percent
ANS: A DIF: Easy MSC: Remembering REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies | The 10 Percent
17. What does it mean to say that gender is a social construct?
a. Gender arises from biological differences between males and females.
b. Gender arises from both biological and social differences between males and females.
c. Gender has no set meaning or understanding in society. The terms “masculine” and “feminine” are very ambiguous,
and their use leads to confusion among members of society.
d. Gender is understood through shared interpretations and meaning. The terms “masculine” and “feminine” are easily
understood and shared by members of a society.
ANS: D DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | Gender Ideologies
18. 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
a. efforts to enhance the illusion of the gender binary.
b. efforts by intersex people to fit into their given sex.
, 4 | Chapter 2
c. gender dysphoria.
d. the personal exception theory of gender.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Our Bodies | The Other 90 P
ercent
19. 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
a. gender binary glasses.
b. gender binary subdivision.
c. gender fluid glasses.
d. gender fluid subdivision.
ANS: B DIF: Difficult MSC: Understanding REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Everything Else | Seeing
Gender
20. Our brains often form ideas that are clustered around the concepts of masculinity and femininity. C hildren, 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
a. “associative memory.”
b. “binary memory.”
c. “collective memory.”
d. “patriarchal memory.”
ANS: A DIF: Difficult MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Everything Else | Seeing Gender
21. Gender binary glasses
a. allow us to separate everything we see into masculine and feminine categories.
b. make us culturally incompetent.
c. allow us to acknowledge that gender is a continuum, and not simply masculine and feminine.
d. ensure that we cannot meaningfully interact with others in society.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate MSC: Understanding REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Everything Else | Seeing
Gender
22. What does the Implicit Association Test (IAT) demonstrate?
a. Men and women have different brains; w
omen, on average, make implicit associations faster than men do.
b. 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.
c. Our brains can quickly make cognitive shifts; it d oesn’t take any longer to identify a name as male if it was preceded
by a feminized word than with a masculinized word.
d. Men and women have different brains; men, on average, make implicit associations faster than w omen do.
ANS: B DIF: Moderate MSC: Understanding REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Everything Else | Seeing
Gender
23. Someone who reads the words “wrestling,” “pickup truck,” and “steak” and then automatically thinks “man” is
experiencing the effect of
a. gender binary glasses.
b. the gender similarities hypothesis.
c. associative memory.
d. the difference between sex and gender.
ANS: C DIF: Moderate MSC: Applying REF: CH02 –Ideas | The Binary and Everything Else | Seeing Gender