Deck 9: Sex and Gender

Question 1

Egalitarian societies have no social groups with unequal access to power, prestige, or resources, __________.

A) but they generally afford greater access of these to men than to women
B) and they ensure equality by sorting social groups by gender
C) and they often afford the same balance across genders
D) but they usually afford greater access of these to women than to men

Answer 1

but they generally afford greater access of these to men than to women

Question 2

In a study of the Kayapo, which women were found to have less influence in community decision-making?

A) those with heavy child-care burdens
B) women of low-ranking clans
C) barren and post-menopausal women
D) mothers of shaman

Answer 2

those with heavy child-care burdens

Question 3

Crafts such as making baskets, mats, and pottery are __________.

A) performed by women in noncommercial societies but by men when produced for trade
B) exclusively men's tasks
C) exclusively women's tasks
D) performed by men in noncommercial societies but by women when produced for trade

Answer 3

performed by women in noncommercial societies but by men when produced for trade

Question 4

According to the __________ theory, men tend to do more dangerous work because the loss of men is less disadvantageous reproductively than the loss of women.

A) expendability
B) economy-of-effort
C) compatibility-with-child-care
D) strength

Question 5

Which of the following personality traits did not differentiate between boys and girls in the Six Cultures project?

A) seeking and offering friendship
B) an attempt to exert dominance over others
C) a tendency to play in larger groups
D) a tendency to seek help and interpersonal contact

Question 6

Which of the following statements best describes humans as they grow taller?

A) Females achieve their ultimate height shortly after puberty, but boys continue to grow for years after puberty.
B) Boys achieve their ultimate height shortly after puberty, but females continue to grow for years after puberty.
C) Both sexes continue to grow for years after puberty.
D) Both sexes achieve their ultimate height shortly after puberty.

Question 7

What did Patricia Draper find among the women of settled !Kung groups?

A) The women no longer engaged in long-distance foraging and lost much of their former influence in decision-making.
B) The women began actively limiting their fertility and lost much of their former influence in decision-making.
C) The women no longer engaged in long-distance foraging, which allowed time for a greater involvement in decision-making.
D) The women began actively limiting their fertility, which allowed time for a greater involvement in decision-making.

Question 8

Variation in gender contribution to primary subsistence relates directly to the type of __________.

A) food-getting
B) warfare
C) social stratification
D) gender roles

Question 9

One sex difference that appears very early in American children, as well as in children in all societies for which systematic data is available, is greater __________.

A) aggressiveness in boys
B) sociability in girls
C) responsibility in boys
D) aggressiveness in girls

Question 10

In societies where women earn wages, __________.

A) women are still responsible for the bulk of the housework and child care
B) they are paid a higher rate per hour than men
C) men take on the majority of the child care and household responsibilities
D) they spend more hours at work per week than men

Question 11

Anthropologists studying gender cross-culturally have documented what interesting feature among some Native American groups such as the Cheyenne, Kaska, Klamath, and Mohave?

A) In addition to male/female genders, they recognize a third gender in which a person who is biologically male or female takes on the social roles and behaviors of the opposite gender.
B) Women in these groups take on more leadership roles than in other foraging societies.
C) In these societies, women do the hunting while men stay close to home with the children.
D) Men in these groups are allowed to marry their first cousins due to low numbers of possible marriage partners.

Question 12

What did Martin Whyte conclude in his cross-cultural examination of women's status?

A) There is little connection between the various factors that can be used to measure women's status.
B) Women have higher status regarding wealth and property than regarding personal autonomy.
C) Despite some differences in outward appearance, women's status is pretty consistent worldwide.
D) A high frequency of warfare in a society lowers women's status in most spheres of life.

Question 13

In contrast to men, women tend to devote all their earnings from economic development to __________.

A) household expenditures
B) savings
C) status symbols
D) community development

Question 14

How do the Chipewyan women combine hunting with the restrictions of child care?

A) They avoid hunting moose after their fourth or fifth month of pregnancy.
B) Only unmarried women hunt.
C) They hunt only small animals, like birds and rabbits, while breast-feeding.
D) Only post-menopausal women join in the hunts.

Question 15

A gender role involves __________.

A) the way societies assign or divide labor by gender
B) the beliefs and attitudes particular to one gender or another
C) ascetic ideas about the way a man or woman should look
D) differential access to resources and power based on gender

Question 16

Of the following theories anthropologists have proposed to explain how gender roles are divided cross-culturally, which theory says that the demands of pregnancy and nursing limit women to performing tasks close to home, like cooking and gathering wild plants?

A) compatibility-with-child-care
B) economy-of-effort
C) expendability
D) strength

Question 17

In societies where females contribute a high degree to primary subsistence, infants are fed solid foods __________, and baby girls are __________ valued.

A) earlier; more
B) earlier; less
C) later; more
D) later; less

Question 18

In certain athletic events, such as marathons and swimming, __________.

A) the differences in males and females are disappearing as training becomes more equal
B) women have improved so much that they now regularly outperform the men
C) the greater biological capacity for these activities in men has been well documented
D) sex-based differences are rare enough that men and women could compete together

Question 19

Which of these groups is known for a relatively high status of women?

A) Iroquois
B) Yanomamö
C) !Kung
D) Chipewyan

Question 20

Researchers have shown a link between the hormone __________ and aggression in animal experiments.

A) androgen
B) estrogen
C) oxytocin
D) vasopressin

Question 21

In which situation would the strict division of labor by gender begin to disappear?

A) when women have fewer children
B) as literacy replaces storytelling
C) when societies become agricultural
D) as more women become leaders

Question 22

Which of the following is an example of a primary subsistence activity?

A) gathering plants
B) grinding corn
C) preserving meat
D) cooking a meal

Question 23

How is gender assigned in the United States?

A) by external biological attributes
B) based on parental preference
C) by newborn behavioral traits
D) based on hormone levels

Question 24

Premarital sex is __________.

A) actively encouraged in some societies
B) frowned upon by almost all of the world's societies
C) considered good for boys in some societies but is universally discouraged for girls
D) accepted in some societies but never actively encouraged

Question 25

Cross-cultural studies show that which of the following factors is related to higher status for women in many areas of life?

A) kin groups and marital residence organized around women
B) lower dependence on hunting for calories
C) the presence of religions with many female deities or a female high god
D) being a member of an intensive agriculture society

Question 26

The idea that women are kept out of warfare because their potential fertility is more important to the group than their potential as warriors is consistent with the __________ theory.

A) expendability
B) economy-of-effort
C) compatibility-with-child-care
D) strength

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of sexual dimorphism?

A) male orangutans are nearly twice as heavy as female orangutans
B) human males tend to be more assertive and ambitious than human females
C) hyena females are socially dominant to hyena males
D) male bowerbirds build and decorate elaborate structures to attract females

Question 28

Which type of society generally has the most favorable view of gender equality?

A) post-industrial societies
B) cultures relying on agriculture
C) industrial societies
D) cultures relying on pastoralism

Question 29

Cross-cultural studies of how societies regulate sexual behavior have shown that extramarital sex is __________.

A) generally more acceptable for men than for women
B) considered unacceptable in virtually all of the world's societies
C) permissible for women in most of the world's societies
D) common in only a small minority of the world's cultures

Question 30

Which statement best explains why men generally have higher status than women in most societies?

A) Men's status is higher because they usually contribute more to primary subsistence.
B) The low status of women is linked to their physical weakness compared to men.
C) The low status of women is linked to their emotional weakness compared to men.
D) Men's status is higher because they contribute more to secondary subsistence activities.

Question 31

Why did some Luo boys in Carol Ember's study show behaviors intermediary between those of other boys and girls?

A) These boys were tasked with chores typically given to girls.
B) This group of boys started school at a younger than average age.
C) The boys were raised by single mothers.
D) These boys later identified themselves as homosexual.

Question 32

Cross-cultural research shows that, universally, __________.

A) married women and married men both consider extramarital sex inappropriate
B) married women, but not married men, consider extramarital sex inappropriate
C) married men, but not married women, consider extramarital sex inappropriate
D) neither married men nor married women consider extramarital sex inappropriate

Question 33

What type of subtle socialization might account for the observation that girls often show more responsible and nurturant behavior than boys?

A) Girls are almost always asked to do more work than boys.
B) Boys are encouraged to be irresponsible and wasteful with their toys.
C) Girls are told from an early age that they must be responsible.
D) Boys are given more difficult chores than girls.

Question 34

Why does greater restrictiveness towards premarital sex tend to occur in more complex societies?

A) Controlling mating is a way of controlling property in these societies.
B) More complex societies have more strict religious codes of behavior.
C) Only complex societies have formal social unions we call marriage.
D) There is no way to deal with a child born out of wedlock in these societies.

Question 35

Restrictions of homosexual behavior seem to be associated with __________.

A) a desire for population growth
B) complex societies
C) male to female ratio
D) economic security

Question 36

The rate of success of the women of Coast Salish being elected to council was related to the __________.

A) wealth of the community
B) literacy rate of the community
C) education of the women
D) age of the women

Question 37

Because the Navajo recognize four distinct genders, they consider homosexual sex to be __________.

A) between two people of the same gender
B) between two people of the same sex
C) generally acceptable
D) unheard of

Question 38

In which type of society are women most likely to contribute more than men to primary subsistence?

A) horticultural
B) hunter-gatherer
C) pastoral
D) intensive agriculture

Question 39

To whom does the term transgender apply?

A) people who do not feel their assigned gender fits them well
B) anyone who is attracted to members of the same sex
C) men who dress in feminine clothing
D) women who take on aggressive, high-power jobs

Question 40

In a cross-cultural study, what factor was shared among societies that allow women to participate in combat as active warriors?

A) They marry within their own communities.
B) They wage only internal (civil) warfare.
C) They use high levels of technology in their combat.
D) They have late marriages and low fertility rates.

Question 41

How do gender concepts vary cross-culturally? Describe at least two examples of cases in which a culture recognizes a third gender beyond the male/female dichotomy recognized in the United States. What is the accepted role of these individuals in their societies?

Question 42

What evidence exists to support the notion that homosexuality is less tolerated in societies that value increasing their population?

Question 43

How is the relative contribution of work by gender related to subsistence strategies? Explain the connection between the two, and then describe what is happening with gender division of labor as societies shift to industrial and post-industrial economies.

Question 44

What is the primary criticism against the strength theory of gender roles?

A) Women in some societies do engage in very heavy labor.
B) Pound-for-pound, men and women do not significantly differ in strength.
C) Hunting and warfare require skilled use of tools and stealth, not physical strength.
D) When the pressures of childbearing are considered, women are actually stronger than men.

Question 45

Cross-culturally, what is one factor that predicts the exclusion of women from politics?

A) the organization of communities around male kin
B) a horticultural subsistence strategy
C) participation in the market economy using men's crafts
D) fertility rate and infant survival rate

Question 46

What factor is likely responsible for the greater gender equality seen in industrial and post-industrial societies?

A) education
B) health care
C) income
D) population size

Question 47

Of the following societies, which is the most pro-homosexual?

A) the Etoro
B) the United States
C) the Siwans
D) the Papago

Question 48

Why do men dominate the political sphere of life across all societies?

A) Decision-making about war is the most important kind of politics, and men have the most experience with warfare.
B) Achieving a political position in most societies requires ambition, aggression, and strength-traits that are more pronounced in men than in women.
C) Because of the hormonal changes associated with pregnancy and lactation, women are too emotional to make level-headed political decisions.
D) Political life is closely associated with spirituality, and most cultures believe women to be too unclean for such high callings.

Question 49

How do household chores relate to changes in subsistence strategies?

A) Household chores increase with increasing agriculture.
B) Household chores decrease with increasing agriculture.
C) Household chores increase when shifting from foraging to pastoralism.
D) Household chores decrease when shifting from foraging to pastoralism.

Question 50

How does the United States compare cross-culturally with regard to restrictions of intercourse within marriage?

A) It is among the most lenient cultures, with only loose restrictions concerning pregnancy and menstruation.
B) It is slightly more restrictive than average, with a few extra restrictions concerning pregnancy and menstruation.
C) It is slightly less restrictive than average, with a few restrictions related to timing, location, and activities.
D) It is among the most restrictive cultures, with many restrictions related to timing, location, and activities.

Question 51

Evaluate the four theories put forth in the text explaining the cross-cultural gender division in labor. Which of these theories do you feel has the strongest position? Explain your answer.

Question 52

What factors lead to men doing more of the agricultural work than women?

A) population increase and a need for more intensive use of the land
B) a need for women to gather wild foods
C) high birth rates and increased childrearing pressure for women
D) a shift to an egalitarian system in which men and women share labor

Question 53

As a result of Europeans restructuring landownership and economic relations, colonial influence in various parts of the world seems to have generally __________.

A) undermined the position of women in societies in which they once had higher status
B) only slightly affected the status of women
C) generally resulted in greater sexual antagonism between men and women
D) raised the status of women

Question 54

Societies that frown on sexual expression by young children __________.

A) also punish premarital and extramarital sex
B) do not condone premarital sexual relations but allow extramarital relations
C) allow premarital and extramarital sexual relations
D) condone some premarital sexual expression but not extramarital sex

Question 55

How do we define status when discussing relative status of men and women? Discuss the use of this term, and the difficulties in comparing status cross-culturally.