Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Test Bank
PART III: READING MEDIA TEXTS CRITICALLY
Multiple Choice
1. As Stuart Hall suggests with his theory of articulation, ______.
a. there is no necessary link between economics and class
b. there is a link between income and political alignment
c. economics is entirely dependent on class, race, and income
d. there must be a link between economics and class
2. Class awareness is a(n) ______, produced in a political sense only when individual
experiences are articulated as a “political force,” enabling subjects to enter the stage as
historical agents.
a. political force
b. economic foundation
c. power device
d. social construct
3. Jonathan Gray (2003) suggests that The Simpsons has turned on its family sitcom
brethren, situating its action within ______.
a. an anti-suburb that is depicted as racist, isolationist, and homophobic
b. a suburb that is depicted as utopian, welcoming, and open-minded
c. a town that is obsolete, worn, and close to expiration
d. an anti-suburb that is depicted as xenophobic, provincial, and narrow-minded
4. Brilliantly parodying the traditional family sitcom neighborhood, The Simpsons’ town
of Springfield ______.
a. is clearly a metaphor for Washington, D.C., politics
b. satirizes and challenges rather than extols the American Dream
c. challenges the ideas of the normal “nuclear family”
d. forgoes progressivism and reverts to older ideals of family values
5. Ellen DeGeneres escapes being such a “convenient screen” for hate-mongers or
bearing the responsibility of being a spokesperson for all of gay America, while she still
maintains a televisibility of queer identity. She does this through which methods?
a. She performs queerness through stand-up comedy and through the ritual action of
her interview sequence.
b. She performs gender expression through what implicitly “exceeds” her stand-up jokes
and sit-down talk.
c. She performs queerness through what implicitly “exceeds” her stand-up jokes and sit-
down talk and, physically, through the ritual action of her daily dance sequence.
d. She sometimes expresses queerness through the ritual action of her daily dance
sequence but often comes across as gender-neutral.
6. Speaking her mind about what should now be said, or not said, about her sexuality,
Ellen successfully encodes the media ritual of dancing, later to appear on Ellen as
______.
a. a performance of queerness that expresses meaning where words have been found
to fail
b. a performance of celebrity identity that downplays meaning where words have shown
too much expression
c. a rehearsal of physical expression that shows comprehension where words have not
shown understanding
d. an act of queerness that reveals authentic individual values, while failing to use words
shows an ability to communicate nonverbally
7. Acting similarly as a facilitator for straight women in their fantasies, DeGeneres’s play
act has a distinct difference from Rosie O’Donnell’s: ______.
a. DeGeneres’s queerness is a secret—a secret the audience is aware of—and she plays
on this knowledge to make her interaction entertaining
b. DeGeneres’s homosexuality is not a secret and she openly expresses herself on her
show, which makes the show bland, but fun
c. DeGeneres’s homosexuality is a known secret—a secret the audience knows in an
iconic way—and she trades on this knowledge to make her interaction funny
d. DeGeneres’s dance routine is an expected part of the show—a part the audience
knows in an iconic way—and she performs with this knowledge to make her dance
engaging and even more iconic
8. This chapter outlined some of the ways that conservative talk radio has a profound
influence not only on elections but also on the very nature of public discourse, and thus
ultimately on public policy, on issues ranging from women’s health to climate change.
The author says that this makes it much more than ______.
a. technology
b. entertainment
c. media
d. talk show opinions
9. In the media character he self-created, Rush Limbaugh’s unrestrained narcissism
drives him to broadcast to his audience an inflated sense of himself as a ______.
a. “man’s man”
b. “political activist”
c. “engaged citizen”
d. “entertainment guru”
10. Critiquing these linguistic practices is not merely a rhetorical exercise because all of
this talk has significant ______.
a. political ramifications
b. media repercussions
c. material consequences
d. philosophical outcomes
11. The show Duck Dynasty discursively configures rednecks as authentically
masculine and yuppies as feminine, which therefore implies the superiority of the former
over the latter in this patriarchal context. Although the term yuppies commonly refers to
young (White) urban professionals, family patriarch Phil Robertson applies the term to
______.
a. people of color or nonconforming gender identities
b. anyone who does not embrace his lifestyle of hunting and fishing
c. only young urban professionals as the term is intended
d. people who live in urban areas
12. According to the article, rural or “redneck” masculinity is considered ______.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
a. the least authentic form because it is too far removed from mainstream culture
b. only partially authentic because it does not always include many aspects that some
consider “masculine”
c. authentic but only as far as the individual person is concerned
d. the most authentic in current mainstream U.S. discourse because it is commonly
associated with “real men”
13. The normalization of maleness and Whiteness contributes to these working-class
subjects being constructed as ______, which lends itself to hegemonic narratives of
rugged individualism, the suppression of class consciousness, and the maintenance of
White male supremacy.
a. neutral individuals
b. authentic individuals
c. masculine figures
d. nonconforming personalities
14. According to Kitwana, when it comes to the mainstream and commercial portrayal of
rap music and its stars, what is often highlighted are those aspects of rap that reinforce
______.
a. negative ideas of class politics
b. aspects of society that are often not discussed
c. negative stereotypes about Blacks
d. positive aspects of musical diversity
15. The majority of resistance against misogyny and violence in rap music thus far has
been constructed as a “gendered” issue, instead of a civil rights agenda. By denying the
possibilities of empowerment for both Black men and women in rap, we ignore the
______.
a. political nature
b. economic opportunities
c. social obligations
d. cultural commentary
16. It is evident that the most prevalent images of Black womanhood in rap are not of
successful, assertive, female rappers, but instead, of near naked, unrealistic, back-up
dancers used to enforce the masculinity and sexual prowess of those male rappers for
whom they dance. In formulating a critical dialogue about rap music and feminism, what
does the author say we must ask?
a. Whose womanhood is being oppressed by entertainment, and is this oppression
limited to music?
b. What kind of femininity is being sought by audiences, and what is being seen in the
public sphere?
c. Whose Black womanhood is being brought to the public sphere and is this
womanhood truly female defined?
d. Are Black women being brought to the public sphere authentically, and are they
represented thoroughly?
17. The most obvious and significant change in media comes from the proliferation of
______ that has/have fragmented the means of content production and distribution
once controlled by a handful of multinational corporations.
a. digital technologies
b. Internet platforms
c. electronic news
d. print media
18. The activist voice that social media and digital technologies amplify pushes profit–
centered media institutions to pay attention to ______.
a. pop culture, entertainment news, and celebrity updates
b. representations of minorities in television and film
c. challenges of politics, campaigns, and global politics
d. issues of police brutality, mass incarceration, and the white supremacist criminal
justice system
19. As the author makes clear, it is crucial to not fall victim to ______.
a. media propaganda and political ideologies
b. technological determinism and accept the myth of the digital panacea
c. authoritarian rhetoric and utopian ideologies
d. none of these
20. ______ led to the rise in contemporary teen programming.
a. The desire by broadcasters to keep teens off drugs
b. Pressure from the federal government on networks to dissuade teens from an interest
in rock music
c. The rise in cable television and the realization of teenagers’ purchasing power
d. The diversification of Disney’s television offerings to include older viewers
True/False
1. In the United States, women’s mass entry into the workforce is often attributed to the
second wave of the women’s movement.
2. Today, many gay men sport beards, army fatigues, work boots, and so on. They build
up their bodies or are “busy arraying themselves in these castoffs and becoming
cowboys, truckers, telephone lineman, and football players.” This is not new:
feminization, at least to a small and symbolic degree, seemed a necessary initiation into
gay life.
3. The term “teenager” was coined by members of the American Psychiatric Association
to help convey to the public the emotional and physical changes that people between
the ages of 13–19 experience.
Essay
1. How are postfeminism and post-racial discourses similar?
2. Discuss the tension of social class and economics.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
3. Television programs like Gossip Girl, Beverly Hills 90210, and Pretty Little Liars
portray various interpretations of the struggles of teenage girls. However, these shows
(and many other teen-oriented programs) show young people in positions of immense
privilege and wealth. Are the situations that these characters face negated (or
minimized) by their affluence, to be brushed off as “first world problems?” Or are they
aspirational characters that young people want to emulate, even if the majority of the
viewers of the programs don’t fit into the characters’ lifestyles?