Question 1

Homer Simpson,a character on the TV show The Simpsons,has a wife who stays home to take care of the children while he works,but he is often responsible for disciplining the children when they are particularly bad.What do you know about Homer even if this is all that you know about the show?

Accepted Answer

The fact that Homer is responsible for disciplining the children suggests that he has taken the instrumental role in the family, which is traditionally associated with men. This does not necessarily indicate anything about his views on gender or his contributions to poverty.

Question 2

For many years,Saturday Night Live ran a series of skits about a character named Pat.The premise of each skit was that no one could tell if Pat was male or female and the other characters would devise ingenious plots to determine Pat's gender; all attempts failed.The humor in these skits is based on the fact that

Accepted Answer

The humor in the skits is based on the social importance of gender identity, highlighting how people often feel the need to categorize others by gender to interact with them comfortably.

Question 3

A woman is shown in the vast majority of commercials that advertise cleaning supplies.This illustrates that

Accepted Answer

The fact that a woman is shown in the vast majority of commercials advertising cleaning supplies suggests that the media portrays gender roles in highly stereotypical ways. This reinforces the stereotype that cleaning is a woman's job and implies that men do not engage in household chores.

Question 4

A little girl notices that whenever both of her parents are in the car,her father is always driving.From this,she deduces that women should be passive and men should be active.This process is called

Accepted Answer

Social learning is the process by which individuals learn about and adopt the behaviors, values, and attitudes of others in their social environment. In this case, the little girl is learning about gender roles from her parents' behavior.

Question 5

In 2009,South African track star Caster Semenya broke the world record in the 800-meter race.Subsequently,she was asked to prove to the world that she was a woman.The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)subjected her to a complex series of tests that included physical and medical examinations.The controversy over Semenya's gender raises which of the following issues?

Accepted Answer

The controversy surrounding Semenya is essentialist because it assumes that there is a single, true definition of gender that can be applied to all people. This is an essentialist view of gender, which is based on the idea that there are two distinct and immutable sexes, male and female.

Question 6

"Welfare queen" is an insulting term for a woman who is accused of cheating the government by collecting welfare payments.There is no "welfare king" insult.What nugget of sociological truth is contained in the phrase "welfare queen"?

Accepted Answer

The phrase "welfare queen" contains a nugget of sociological truth in that it reinforces gender stereotypes and biases by suggesting that women are more likely to cheat the government and live off welfare. It is important to note that this stereotype is not accurate and overlooks the systemic factors that contribute to poverty, such as discrimination, lack of access to education and jobs, and economic inequality. The use of the word "queen" also implies that women who are on welfare are somehow living luxuriously, which is another stereotype that is not supported by evidence.

Question 7

In the past,bank tellers were overwhelmingly male,but today they are mostly female.What could explain this shift?

Accepted Answer

Changes in technology have made the work of bank tellers easier and less prestigious, leading to lower wages and attracting more women to the job as it became less male-dominated.

Question 8

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,replacing a housewife with paid laborers would cost at least $100,000 per year.How could this be interpreted according to conflict theory?

Accepted Answer

Conflict theory suggests that social structures and relationships are shaped by power struggles and inequalities. In this context, the high cost of replacing a housewife with paid laborers highlights the economic value of domestic work, which is often undervalued and unpaid when performed within the family. According to conflict theory, men, who traditionally benefit from the gender segregation that assigns women the role of unpaid domestic laborers, would have a lot to lose if this segregation were to disappear. This is because the current arrangement allows them to benefit from the economic value of this labor without having to pay for it, maintaining a form of gender inequality.

Question 9

A math teacher writes story problems that have male characters that are always given an occupation like Bob the janitor or James the lawyer,but the female characters have no occupation.This is an example of the

Accepted Answer

This is an example of how schools socialize children into gender roles by perpetuating the stereotype that men have occupations while women do not, reinforcing the gender binary of male breadwinners and female homemakers.

Question 10

A woman feels that she always needs to act cheerful and look her best when her husband gets home from work because he has a stressful job and he needs her help to unwind.We would say this woman is

Accepted Answer

The woman in this scenario is taking on the expressive role, which is the traditional gender role assigned to women of being emotional caretakers and maintaining a peaceful and happy home environment. This role involves being responsible for the emotional well-being of family members, and often entails being cheerful and supportive.

Question 11

You are observing children on an elementary school playground.Why might you find some girls playing sports with boys,but almost no boys playing jump rope with girls?

Accepted Answer

The most likely reason why girls would feel more comfortable playing sports with boys than vice versa is because girls are generally more socially accepted for crossing gender lines. However, boys face more ridicule for participating in activities that are typically associated with girls such as jump rope. This gender bias is likely influenced by societal expectations and norms surrounding masculinity and femininity.

Question 12

A boy receives a B+ on his English paper with the teacher's comment,"Brilliant insight,but you're lacking focus and have some typos." How is this typical of the way schools treat boys?

Accepted Answer

The teacher's comment on the boy's paper shows that he is being judged on the intellectual quality of his work rather than just his effort or behavior. This aligns with research showing that schools often value and reward boys' academic abilities and intellectual skills more than they do girls'. Additionally, the teacher's comment does not suggest that the assignment was necessarily more challenging for the boy or that he was being punished for any behavior.

Question 13

The term "deadbeat dad" describes a man who isn't married to his children's mother and isn't helping to support his children financially.Why do we almost never talk about "deadbeat moms"?

Accepted Answer

Mothers usually remain the primary caregiver even when fathers don't take the instrumental role. Society expects women to fulfill this role, and therefore, there is less attention given to "deadbeat moms" as they are not seen as completely abandoning their children.

Question 14

Sociologists who study gender in rural areas have noticed that only one person is called the "farmer" even though everyone in a family has to work on the farm.The "farmer" is usually male and has more prestige than the other family members working on the farm.This is an example of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of patriarchy, a system in which men hold more power and privilege than women. Despite everyone in the family working on the farm, only the male is given the prestigious title of "farmer" and recognized as the head of the household. This reinforces traditional gender roles and reinforces the idea that men are more important and valuable than women in the rural community.

Question 15

Many expectant parents get a sonogram to find out the sex of their babies and they only start decorating the nursery after learning the sex.This is an example of

Accepted Answer

Gender role socialization refers to the process by which individuals learn the gender roles expected of them by society. In this case, expectant parents wait to learn the sex of their baby before decorating the nursery, often following traditional gender norms in their choices, which is a form of gender role socialization.

Question 16

A young man is told by his friends that in bars he should drink beer while buying women shots in the hopes of getting the women very drunk and increasing his chance of having sex with them.He tells his friends that they are encouraging

Accepted Answer

The behavior of buying women shots with the intention of getting them drunk in the hopes of having sex with them contributes to a culture of coercion and objectification of women, which is commonly referred to as rape culture. This promotes and normalizes sexual assault and harassment against women.

Question 17

In her introduction to a paper about gender,the sociologist Rae Blumberg said that the central principle behind gender in our society is to "remember the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules." What kind of theorist is Blumberg?

Accepted Answer

Blumberg's statement about gender being influenced by who has power and resources closely aligns with the conflict theory perspective, which emphasizes the role of power and inequality in shaping society.

Question 18

Margaret Mead,an American anthropologist,spent much of her career documenting the ways in which other cultures had gender roles that differed,sometimes radically,from those of twentieth-century America.Why does this matter?

Accepted Answer

Margaret Mead's work highlights the fact that gender roles are not fixed and universal, but are culturally constructed and vary across societies. It challenges the idea that the American version of gender roles is the most advanced and suggests that masculinity and femininity have different meanings in different settings. It does not suggest that the physical environment or birth determine gender.

Question 19

Medical research has demonstrated that individuals who have higher levels of testosterone are more assertive,dominant,and competitive.The social psychologist Allan Mazur noticed in his study of chess competitions that testosterone levels rose in chess players before a match and then rose again in the match's winner,but they fell in the loser.What does this suggest about the origin of gender?

Accepted Answer

The study suggests that hormones (biological factor) play a role in determining behavior traits associated with gender, such as assertiveness and competitiveness, but social context (such as participating in a chess competition) also influences these traits. Therefore, gender comes from an interaction between biology and social contexts.

Question 20

Judge Aaron Persky was asked by prosecutors to sentence a man found guilty of rape to six years in prison.Instead,Aaron Persky handed down a sentence of six months in county jail.Many felt that by handing down a light sentence for a serious crime,Aaron Persky was normalizing

Accepted Answer

By giving a light sentence for a serious crime like rape, Judge Aaron Persky is sending a message to society that such actions are not taken seriously and are normal. This reinforces the problem of rape culture, where sexual violence is normalized and victims are blamed for the actions of the perpetrators.

Quiz 9: Constructing Gender and Sexuality