Deck 6: Sexuality and Society

Question 1

The baby boom generation-people born between 1946 and 1964-became the first cohort in U.S.history to grow up with the idea that sex was part of everyone's life, married or not.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

People in all cultures respond to intersexual people with confusion or even disgust.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

There are few areas of life in which sexuality does not play some part.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The publication of Alfred Kinsey's first book in 1948 received considerable attention because scientists were actually studying sex.

Question 5

Historically, public attitudes towards sexuality in the United States have been an inconsistent mix of cultural repression and support for individual choice.

Question 6

Every state in the United States permits lawful marriage between a woman and a man who are first cousins.

Question 7

U.S.culture discouraged open discussion of sexuality, so researchers did not begin to study sexuality until the middle of the twentieth century.

Question 8

Despite the widespread image of "swinging singles," married people have sex with a partner more often than singles do.

Question 9

Sociobiologists point out that, in every society throughout the world, people are attracted to youthfulness.

Question 10

The sexual counterrevolution did little to change the fact that most sexually-active people in the United States had a high number of sexual partners.

Question 11

Primary sex characteristics refer to reproductive organs.

Question 12

While the sexual revolution increased sexual activity overall, it changed behavior among men more than among women.

Question 13

The region of the world where people use birth control the least is North America.

Question 14

Most married adults in the United States are sexually unfaithful to their spouses at some point in their marriages.

Question 15

Survey research shows that, even though the public remains divided on the issue, U.S.society is more accepting of premarital sex today than it was a generation ago.

Question 16

Standards of human beauty are the same for people everywhere in the world.

Question 17

Although there is a human "sex drive," our biology does not dictate any specific ways of being sexual.

Question 18

No sexual practice-not even the incest taboo-is found everywhere in the world.

Question 19

During the twentieth century, U.S.society experienced profound changes in sexual attitudes and practices.

Question 20

Sociologists point out that human sexual behavior is very similar across all cultures.

Question 21

Although some people think rape simply reflects a desire for sex, it is an expression of power.

Question 22

On U.S.campuses, the majority of women express dissatisfaction with the culture of "hooking up."

Question 23

A majority of adults in the United States report engaging in homosexual activity at some point in their lives.

Question 24

The U.S.rate of teenage pregnancy was actually higher in the 1950s than it is today.

Question 25

The existence of a category of people in Mexico called Muxes shows us that there can be more than two gender categories.

Question 26

Heterosexism refers to rejecting or stigmatizing anyone who is not heterosexual.

Question 27

Teenage pregnancy raises the risk of girls not finishing school and becoming poor.

Question 28

The abortion debate is about nothing more than the question of when life begins.

Question 29

Homosexuality and heterosexuality are mutually exclusive, meaning that all people fall into one category or the other.

Question 30

The sexual revolution raised the level of teenage pregnancy in the United States.

Question 31

The symbolic-interaction approach highlights the various meanings people attach to sexuality.

Question 32

The structural-functional approach highlights patterns of inequality that are linked to sexuality.

Question 33

Pornography is a moral issue for some people and a power issue for others.

Question 34

Homophobia refers to a fear of sexuality.

Question 35

The social-conflict approach highlights the ways sexual attitudes and practices are a benefit to some people and a disadvantage to others.

Question 36

The fact that many people are bisexual demonstrates that sexual orientation is not clear-cut.

Question 37

Prostitution is greatest in poor nations where women have fewer economic opportunities.

Question 38

There was no distinct category of "homosexual" people until about a century ago.

Question 39

Feminist theory considers sex and sexuality to be an important dimension of social inequality.

Question 40

Transgender is a concept that refers to people who conform to the gender patterns that a society defines as conventional for one sex or the other.

Question 41

The incest taboo

A) limits sexual competition within families.
B) confuses people's rights and obligations towards each other.
C) breaks down the kinship system.
D) discourages contact of family members with the larger society.

Question 42

A reason to study sexuality using the sociological perspective is

A) sexuality is both important and controversial.
B) most people understand sexuality very well.
C) sexuality plays a minor part in many areas of social life.
D) sexuality has already been thoroughly studied.

Question 43

The development of breasts in females and deeper voices in males are examples of

A) gender norms.
B) primary sex characteristics.
C) secondary sex characteristics.
D) cultural variation.

Question 44

Which concept refers to genitals that distinguish females and males?

A) gender
B) primary sex characteristics
C) secondary sex characteristics
D) sexual chromosomes

Question 45

Research on extramarital sex shows that about _____ of married men and about _____ of married women remain faithful to their spouse throughout their married lives.

A) 18 percent 22 percent
B) 25 percent 75 percent
C) 75 percent 50 percent
D) 81 percent 88 percent

Question 46

Comparative research indicates that

A) although sex has a biological foundation, sexual practices vary from place to place as an element of the culture.
B) people throughout the world engage in the same sexual practices.
C) sex is not permitted in some societies, but it is encouraged in others.
D) sexuality is defined entirely by a biological "sex drive."

Question 47

Which concept refers to the biological distinction between males and females?

A) sex
B) primary sex characteristics
C) gender
D) gender roles

Question 48

The importance of Alfred Kinsey's research on sexuality in the United States was

A) making sexuality a focus of scientific study.
B) showing that people were more conventional than most of society thought.
C) encouraging less openness towards sexuality.
D) that it signaled the end of the sexual revolution.

Question 49

Sexual attraction to people of both sexes is called

A) heterosexuality.
B) bisexuality.
C) homosexuality.
D) asexuality.

Question 50

When did the sexual revolution begin?

A) It began during the colonial era.
B) It began during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
C) It began in the 1940s and then grew quickly in the late 1960s.
D) It began about 1980.

Question 51

Which of the following concepts refers to a person's romantic and emotional attraction to another person?

A) sex role
B) sexual orientation
C) sexual experience
D) personal transsexuality

Question 52

Sexual attraction to someone of the same sex is called

A) heterosexuality.
B) bisexuality.
C) homosexuality.
D) asexuality.

Question 53

The effect of the sexual counterrevolution was

A) to keep sex only within marriage.
B) to encourage people to limit their number of sexual partners or, in some cases, to abstain from sex entirely.
C) to finally close the historical "double standard."
D) to discourage the use of birth control technology.

Question 54

Survey research on attitudes towards premarital sex tells us that

A) the public is more accepting of premarital sex than it was a generation ago.
B) there has been little or no change in public attitudes towards premarital sex in recent decades.
C) the public is less accepting of premarital sex than it was a generation ago.
D) almost no one today claims that premarital sex is wrong.

Question 55

The sexual counterrevolution had begun in the United States by

A) 1920.
B) 1960.
C) 1980.
D) 1995.

Question 56

According to the Laumann study of sexual patterns among U.S.adults,

A) almost everyone has about the same amount of sexual experience.
B) single people have more sex than married people.
C) there are striking differences in sexual experience within the U.S. population.
D) in the age of AIDS , almost all sex is limited to married partners.

Question 57

One norm found everywhere is the incest taboo, which refers to norms forbidding

A) young children from engaging in sex.
B) sexual relations or marriage between certain relatives.
C) women from becoming sexually active before marriage.
D) sex except for the purpose of having children.

Question 58

Which concept refers to humans who have some combination of female and male sexual characteristics?

A) multi-sexed
B) bisexual
C) transsexual
D) intersexual

Question 59

If you often have the feeling of being "trapped in the wrong body," you might be

A) a hermaphrodite.
B) a homosexual.
C) a transsexual.
D) a bisexual.

Question 60

About what share of the states in this country have laws that permit marriage between first cousins?

A) none of the states
B) five of the states
C) half of the states
D) all of the states

Question 61

From a global perspective, prostitution is most common in

A) high-income nations, where women are free to choose their profession.
B) poor nations, where women have fewer economic opportunities.
C) all nations, because prostitution is found in every country to about the same extent.
D) Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, where women have fewer choices about their lives.

Question 62

Pornography is

A) a proven scientific cause of violence against women.
B) condemned by almost all conservatives but defended by almost all liberals.
C) rare in the United States.
D) very popular in the United States.

Question 63

The more global our view of sexuality

A) the more variety we see in the meanings people attach to sexuality.
B) the greater the evidence that biology defines sexuality.
C) the clearer we see that sexual practices are mostly the same all around the world.
D) the easier it is to understand the latent functions of sexuality.

Question 64

If you were to study the changing meaning of virginity over the last century in our society, you would discover that the norm stating that people remain virgins until marriage

A) has changed little.
B) has become stronger with regard to women.
C) has become stronger with regard to men.
D) has become weaker.

Question 65

Many people call prostitution a victimless crime because

A) they believe that prostitution subjects women to outright violence.
B) they believe that prostitution plays a part in spreading sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.
C) they believe that many poor women become trapped in a life of selling sex.
D) they believe that adults should be able to do as they please as long as no one is harmed.

Question 66

Teenagers with the highest probability of pregnancy are

A) teenage women with low incomes and weak families.
B) teenage women with high incomes.
C) teenage women with little sexual experience.
D) teenage women with high levels of education.

Question 67

If you were teaching a class about the symbolic-interaction approach to sexuality, you likely focus on

A) understanding men's power over women.
B) raising public concern about sexual harassment.
C) how individuals in various settings engage in different sexual behavior and attach different meanings to sexual activity.
D) understanding why society must regulate with whom and when people reproduce.

Question 68

Elite prostitutes-young, attractive, and well-educated women-are widely referred to as _____.

A) streetwalkers
B) brothel workers
C) call girls or escorts
D) sex criminals

Question 69

The campus culture of "hooking up" involves sexual relationships between partners who

A) know little about each other.
B) are dating.
C) desire long-term relationships with each other.
D) are both content with these encounters.

Question 70

Based on what you know about the history of human sexuality, once a society gains birth-control technology

A) social control of sexuality becomes more strict.
B) families, rather than individuals, make choices about sexual partners.
C) social norms regarding sexuality become more permissive.
D) the incest taboo no longer is observed.

Question 71

Sarah feels little or no sexual attraction to people of either sex.Her sexual orientation is called

A) heterosexuality.
B) bisexuality.
C) homosexuality.
D) asexuality.

Question 72

Assume that you are investigating the consequences of the incest taboo for kinship organization in a number of societies. You are using

A) the structural-functional approach.
B) the symbolic-interaction approach.
C) the social-conflict approach.
D) queer theory.

Question 73

In 2012, about what percentage of U.S.adults claimed homosexuality is "always wrong" or "almost always wrong"?

A) only 5 percent
B) about 30 percent
C) about 46 percent
D) almost 100 percent

Question 74

The concept "homophobia" refers to

A) fear of pregnancy.
B) fear of one's own sexuality.
C) fear of close personal interaction with people thought to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
D) fear of attracting sexual interest from another person.

Question 75

Prostitution is regarded by many people in the United States as a

A) victimless crime.
B) corporate crime.
C) crime against the person.
D) white-collar crime.

Question 76

A common myth is that

A) many rapes are not reported to the police.
B) official rape statistics include only victims who are women.
C) in most cases of rape, the victim does not know the attacker.
D) most men who rape men are not homosexual.

Question 77

The idea that society needs to regulate human sexuality is highlighted by

A) the structural-functional approach.
B) the symbolic-interaction approach.
C) the social-conflict approach.
D) queer theory.

Question 78

A widespread-but False-idea about rape is that

A) many rapes take place in the home.
B) women who are raped must have encouraged their attackers.
C) men who rape are interested in power rather than sex.
D) "date rape" is a common problem on college campuses.

Question 79

About ______ of men and _____ of women in the United States define themselves as "partly" or "entirely" homosexual.

A) 1.7 percent 1.1 percent
B) 10 percent 6 percent
C) 28 percent 14 percent
D) 30 percent 30 percent

Question 80

The majority of evidence indicates that sexual orientation is rooted in

A) human biology, although social experience plays some role.
B) how societies construct sexuality.
C) individual choice.
D) the way young children are raised.