DIRECTIONS: Read the statements and decide if the statement is either true or false. The statements are some widely held common ideas about gender but not all of them are supported by research. We can discuss them in class.

1. Society has very definite ideas about what men and women should be like.

True False

2. There is no way that people can do all the things expected of them as men and women.

True False

3. There is greater tolerance of tomboys that sissies.

True False

4. Many masculine and feminine traits are desirable.

True False

5. Many people have ideas about masculinity or femininity that they cannot live up to.

True False

6. Many men who seem too masculine are concerned about living up to societies expectations.

True False

7. Probably most people fail to live up to society's expectations for men and women.

True False

8. Masculinity need not exclude emotionality.

True False

9. Masculinity and femininity would be less stressful if less stereotyped.

True False

10 Masculinity need not include aggressiveness.

True False

11. Developing a secure sense of one's masculinity(for males) or femininity (for females) is one of the most important tasks in personality development.

True False

12. A secure sense of masculinity or femininity comes primarily from one's relationships with the parent of the same sex in childhood and adolescence.

True False

13. Excessive masculinity on the outside often indicates that a man is unsure about his masculinity on the inside.

True False

14. Growing up in a household without a father is likely to cause serious sec role identity problems for boys.

True False

15. Many things can go wrong in personality development to cause people to be insecure in their sex roles. As a result, a relatively large proportion of people, especially males, have sex role identity problems.

True False

16. One of main sources of male violence, crime and delinquency is that many men need to compensate for their insecure sense of masculinity.

True False

17. The reason for the initiation ceremonies for the male adolescent in many cultures is that they serve to help the boy develop a secure sex role identity, especially in societies where the boy has lived or associated primarily with women earlier in life.

True False

18. Black males are especially vulnerable to sex role identity problems because of the high rate of paternal absence and lack of good male role models among blacks.

True False

19. We need more men in daycare centers and elementary schools to provide boys with male sex role identity models.

True False

20. The current blurring of women's and men's sex roles is making it hard for children to develop healthy sex role identities.

True False

Return to Soc 311