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chapter 7
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
1. Though many things have changed about gender over time, appearance is still a primary measure and marker of
femininity.
a. True
b. False
2. “Feminine” toys such as dolls encourage independent play activities and less verbal interaction.
a. True
b. False
3. Men have relatively firm ego boundaries and may sympathize with others but not experience others’ feelings as their
own.
a. True
b. False
4. Girls are praised for being independent and engaging in competitive play with other children.
a. True
b. False
5. In the United States, a current theme in views of femininity is that women should establish closeness through talking
with others in large relational networks.
a. True
b. False
6. According to some counselors, pressure to live up to ideals of masculinity has led to an epidemic of hidden male
depression.
a. True
b. False
7. Female babies tend to identify with their mothers and male babies tend to identify with their fathers.
a. True
b. False
8. Men in the U.S. are seen as failing at masculinity if they try to transcend traditional notions of masculinity.
a. True
b. False
9. Feminine gender identities emphasize interrelatedness with others and tend to have relatively permeable ego
boundaries.
a. True
b. False
10. Freud believed that children of both sexes focus on the penis as a symbol of power.
a. True
b. False
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Indicate the answer choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
11. What has research found about social aggression in girls?
a. It is often physical.
b. It includes spreading rumors.
c. It happens very infrequently.
d. It has decreased in the last 5 years.
12. ___________, especially, encourage in children what they perceive to be gender-appropriate behaviors, fostering more
independence, competitiveness, and aggression in sons and more emotional expressiveness and gentleness in daughters.
a. Fathers
b. Mothers
c. Parents
d. Grandparents
13. The point at which an individual stops and the rest of the world begins is called a(n):
a. gender identity.
b. gender constancy.
c. ego boundary.
d. masculine speech community.
14. Which of the following is true, according to psychodynamic theory?
a. Children of both sexes usually form their first identification with an adult woman.
b. Girls identify more with fathers than mothers after the age of 3.
c. For a girl to fully form her identity, she must repress her original identification with her mother.
d. At around the age of one year, male and female development diverges dramatically.
15. For many men, the most fundamental requirement for manhood is not to be ___________.
a. tough
b. independent
c. aggressive
d. feminine
16. Allison is a thirty-year-old mother of two young sons. She and her partner, Mike, both have full time jobs. At work,
Allison constantly feels pressure to work hard for promotion to the next level in her career. At home, she worries
infrequently that she’s not spending enough time with her sons and that her house is never clean enough. What theme of
cultural expectations of women is Allison experiencing?
a. Be superwoman.
b. Be sensitive and caring.
c. Appearance still counts.
d. Negative treatment by others.
17. ___________ are much more likely than ___________ to discuss sex topics with children.
a. Teachers; parents
b. Fathers; mothers
c. Grandparents; parents
d. Mothers; fathers
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18. Even when people Kathy hardly knows tell her about their emotions and private lives, she feels very connected to
them. Kathy could be described as ____.
a. having thick (or rigid) ego boundaries
b. having thin (or permeable) ego boundaries
c. having unstable gender constancy
d. having an androgynous gender identification
19. A person’s private sense of, and subjective experience of, his or her gender is called:
a. monitoring.
b. internalization.
c. gender identity.
d. ego boundaries.
20. Girls are typically described as all of the following EXCEPT:
a. small.
b. active.
c. quiet.
d. delicate.
Instructions: Identify the following:
21. Social Aggression
22. Gender identity
23. Ego boundaries
24. Identification
25. Parental modeling
26. “Anatomy is destiny”
27. Define ego boundaries and explain how they typically develop in masculine and feminine people, noting both
similarities and differences in development.
28. Children tend to be socialized into very strict gender roles. This socialization process and these expectations tend to be
especially difficult for children who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed, or otherwise genderqueer. Give
an example of two specific difficulties that queer kids may face growing up as well as a potential response to help ease
each issue, explaining how the response would directly impact the issue.
29. According to psychodynamic theory, how do most boys develop their gender identity?
30. Identify the themes (or elements) of what it means to be masculine in the United States. As part of your explanation,
be sure you provide brief, concrete examples for the five established themes and the recently emerging theme. Finally,
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chapter 7
discuss one way that parental/guardian communication about gender (as discussed in Chapter 7 of Gendered Lives) may
influence understanding of one or more of these themes.
31. Contemporary fathers are far more involved in their children’s lives than were fathers of previous generations. Based
on the ideas discussed in Chapter 7, reflect on the implications this might have on the gender development of
contemporary children.
32. Identify the themes (or elements) of what it means to be feminine in the United States. As part of your explanation, be
sure you provide brief, concrete examples for the five established themes and the recently emerging theme. Finally,
discuss one way that parental/guardian communication about gender (as discussed in Chapter 7 of Gendered Lives) may
influence understanding of one or more of these themes.
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Answer Key
1. True
2. False
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tend to emphasize separation from others and have more rigid or thicker ego boundaries—which means they have a
clearer sense of differentiation between self and others.
24. Identification is an unconscious process in which children learn gendered expectations by modeling their behavior
after important people in their lives. Usually identification occurs with the mother initially. Girls tend to continue to
identify with mothers and boys tend to separate from their mothers around age three.
25. Parents communicate gender through modeling masculinity and femininity, and in heterosexual relationships, male-
female relationships. Once children achieve gender constancy, they tend to model their own behaviors after their same
gendered parents.
26. The theory that the biology, particularly the genitals, determines with which parent a child will identify. Coined by
Sigmund Freud. Lack of support for Freud’s ideas led to the rejection of the “anatomy is destiny” theory, even for
psychoanalysts.
27. Ego boundaries are the point at which an individual stops and the rest of the world (and other people) begin. They
distinguish the self from others and others’ concerns and lives. Generally, feminine people (often women) have more thin,
or permeable, ego boundaries than masculine people (often men), due to feminine socialization that does not emphasize
differentiation between the self and the mother. Generally, masculine people’s ego boundaries are more thick, or rigid,
than those of feminine people, due to masculine socialization that rigidly distinguishes between the self and the mother.
Those with thin ego boundaries typically empathize and identify more with others and experience the feelings of intimates
more as their own than those with thick ego boundaries do. People with rigid ego boundaries generally feel less
responsible for others than those with permeable boundaries, although this should not suggest that masculine people do
not care about others and want to help them with problems.
28. Answers for this question may vary. Students should draw from the material on pages 161-162 to answer this
question but may use the own unique examples.
They may cite decisions (and social stigma and teasing) over what restrooms to use, what clothes to wear, what gendered
sports team to play for, what dorm room to live in, among others, as issues queer kids face. Responses may include
introducing diversity early on to children (both for queer and non-queer kids), providing gender-neutral restrooms, sports
options, and living opportunities, and eliminating gender-specific language from conversation. Students should make
explicit connections between their potential responses and the issues.
29. For boys, the process of developing gender identity is complicated, according to psychodynamic theory. As infants,
boys internalize and identify with their primary caretaker; in most cases this is the boy’s mother or another woman. By
around age three, however, a boy recognizes that his sex is constant − he will always be male − and that his maleness is
different from the femaleness of his primary caretaker. This realization leads boys to separate from their initial
identification with their primary caretaker and seek out an adult male role model. Because fathers are more remote from
their children than are mothers, they are not necessarily available to serve in this role. Boys, in turn, may develop their
masculinity in negative terms − as not like mother, or not feminine.
30. Five themes of masculinity are discussed in the text: 1) don’t be female/feminine, 2) be successful, 3) be aggressive, 4)
be sexual, and 5) be self-reliant. The emerging theme is the contradictory notion of the need to both embody and
transcend traditional views of masculinity. Each of these should have a short example to illustrate it.
Answers on the final portion of the question may vary. For instance, a student may choose to talk about the
psychoanalytical theorist approach that states that boys develop their sense of masculinity by lessening identification with
their mothers. Therefore, this may reinforce the themes of don’t be female and be self-reliant.
31. Psychodynamic theory argues that because of the remoteness of fathers, boys struggle to find male gender models and
therefore may define masculinity in the negative − e.g., as not-feminine. Fathers who are active in their son’s lives may
abet this problem, providing boys with a concrete model of masculinity. However, it’s not clear that fathers’ greater
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chapter 7
involvement in the lives of their children will lead to more fluid gender roles. On one hand, fathers are more likely to
encourage that their children enact appropriate gender norms than are mothers; on the other hand, fathers also are more
likely to encourage both sons and daughters to stretch themselves and take risks. As such, they may push their daughters
to try activities that might be traditionally considered “masculine.”
32. Five themes of femininity are discussed in the text: 1) appearance still counts, 2) be sensitive and caring, 3) being
treated negatively by others, 4) be a superwoman, 5) there is no single definition of femininity today. Each of these should
have a short example to illustrate it.
Answers on the final portion of the question may vary. For instance, students may write about how girls are often given
toys that encourage building relationships in order to play and may often practice cooking, cleaning, and childcare through
games. This emphasizes that girls should be caring and responsive to others and be a superwoman.