ENGL 333 Midterm Test Questions with Correct Answers Latest Update 2025-2026
Gender - Answers the cultural meanings we assign to biological sex (male/female)
Gender Assignment - Answers the gender attribution that occurs at birth on the basis of the
health professional's inspection of the infant's genitalia (AFAB/AMAB)
Gender Identity - Answers the gender that you assign yourself (man, woman, gender non-binary,
trans, etc.)
Gender Role - Answers the behaviors that are socially mandated for your biological sex
(masculine/feminine)
Transgender - Answers a term that describes when one's gender assignment is at odds with
one's gender identity and/or gender role
Gender Non-Binary - Answers gender identity that exists beyond the gender binary, including
cisgender and transgender identities
Misogyny - Answers fear & hatred of women; woman-hating attitudes and behaviors; includes
trans-misogyny
Intersexuality (hermaphroditism) - Answers the condition of having some combination of both
male and female genitalia
Sexuality - Answers not just sexual acts or erotic practices, but also desires, fantasies,
pleasures, identity formations, narratives, knowledges that are not reducible to acts or practices
Sexual Identity - Answers how you understand yourself as a sexual being, often through
categories such as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, queer, gay, straight, etc.
Biological Essentialism - Answers the belief that concepts such as gender or sexuality are
purely biological, transhistorical, nonpolitical, essential, natural innate forces whose
manifestations are only mildly shaped by cultural factors
Social Constructivism - Answers the belief that concepts such as gender or sexuality are not
solely the product of biology, but is created through the intersection of political, social, and
economic forces, which vary over time and from culture to culture
Sexual Orientation - Answers who you are attracted to, sexual object choice
Heterosexuaity - Answers your own partner's sex (gender assignment) is the other than your
own
Homosexuality - Answers your own partner's sex (gender assignment) is the same as your own
Bisexuality - Answers attracted to both sexes
, Heteronormativity - Answers the social, political, and economic system that supports and
rewards heterosexuality, and that makes heterosexuality into the elemental for of human
association, the sole model of inter-gender relations, and the indivisible basis of all community
the institutionalized belief that heterosexuality is the superior and single mode of sexual
organization for society
Homonormativity - Answers "a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative
assumptions and institutions, but upholds and sustains them, while promising the possibility of
a demobilized gay constituency and a privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in
domesticity and consumption"
Queer - Answers initially a term of denigration aimed at lesbians and gay men; now a political
and conceptual category used to critique heteronormativity and "regimes of the normal"
also refers to the range of non-heteronormative practices and identities that may not be
encompassed by terms like "gay" or "lesbian"
(Gender) Perfomativity - Answers Judith Butler
the rituals, acts, and behaviors meant to express identity actually constitute it
example of drag as parody of gender: drag is not a parody of gender, but reveals that gender
itself is a parody
Racial Drag - Answers May Henderson
by making his character white, Baldwin is able to focus on issues of homosexuality rather than
on racial issues
Touch Deficit/Touch Isolation - Answers lack of platonic touch between male friends
Oedipal Scenario - Answers Young boys disidentify with mother (bc powerless), identify with
fathers, fall in love with someone like mother
David & Oedipal Scenario - Answers doesn't happen for David, disidentifies with mother but
fears her, does not identify with father
Gender - Answers the cultural meanings we assign to biological sex (male/female)
Gender Assignment - Answers the gender attribution that occurs at birth on the basis of the
health professional's inspection of the infant's genitalia (AFAB/AMAB)
Gender Identity - Answers the gender that you assign yourself (man, woman, gender non-binary,
trans, etc.)
Gender Role - Answers the behaviors that are socially mandated for your biological sex
(masculine/feminine)
Transgender - Answers a term that describes when one's gender assignment is at odds with
one's gender identity and/or gender role
Gender Non-Binary - Answers gender identity that exists beyond the gender binary, including
cisgender and transgender identities
Misogyny - Answers fear & hatred of women; woman-hating attitudes and behaviors; includes
trans-misogyny
Intersexuality (hermaphroditism) - Answers the condition of having some combination of both
male and female genitalia
Sexuality - Answers not just sexual acts or erotic practices, but also desires, fantasies,
pleasures, identity formations, narratives, knowledges that are not reducible to acts or practices
Sexual Identity - Answers how you understand yourself as a sexual being, often through
categories such as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, queer, gay, straight, etc.
Biological Essentialism - Answers the belief that concepts such as gender or sexuality are
purely biological, transhistorical, nonpolitical, essential, natural innate forces whose
manifestations are only mildly shaped by cultural factors
Social Constructivism - Answers the belief that concepts such as gender or sexuality are not
solely the product of biology, but is created through the intersection of political, social, and
economic forces, which vary over time and from culture to culture
Sexual Orientation - Answers who you are attracted to, sexual object choice
Heterosexuaity - Answers your own partner's sex (gender assignment) is the other than your
own
Homosexuality - Answers your own partner's sex (gender assignment) is the same as your own
Bisexuality - Answers attracted to both sexes
, Heteronormativity - Answers the social, political, and economic system that supports and
rewards heterosexuality, and that makes heterosexuality into the elemental for of human
association, the sole model of inter-gender relations, and the indivisible basis of all community
the institutionalized belief that heterosexuality is the superior and single mode of sexual
organization for society
Homonormativity - Answers "a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative
assumptions and institutions, but upholds and sustains them, while promising the possibility of
a demobilized gay constituency and a privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in
domesticity and consumption"
Queer - Answers initially a term of denigration aimed at lesbians and gay men; now a political
and conceptual category used to critique heteronormativity and "regimes of the normal"
also refers to the range of non-heteronormative practices and identities that may not be
encompassed by terms like "gay" or "lesbian"
(Gender) Perfomativity - Answers Judith Butler
the rituals, acts, and behaviors meant to express identity actually constitute it
example of drag as parody of gender: drag is not a parody of gender, but reveals that gender
itself is a parody
Racial Drag - Answers May Henderson
by making his character white, Baldwin is able to focus on issues of homosexuality rather than
on racial issues
Touch Deficit/Touch Isolation - Answers lack of platonic touch between male friends
Oedipal Scenario - Answers Young boys disidentify with mother (bc powerless), identify with
fathers, fall in love with someone like mother
David & Oedipal Scenario - Answers doesn't happen for David, disidentifies with mother but
fears her, does not identify with father
