The format of the exam will be five short answers and two essays. A short answer should be about one paragraph in length, a sort of "mini-essay." The longer essays will run from three pages upward to ten (it all depends on how much you want to write!). Success in both the short answer and the essay sections of the exam will depend on you providing support for your assertions drawn from lectures and readings. You will also be graded on your ability to make an argument and support it, not for the elegance wiith which you compose your answers (translated, this means I will not be counting off for spelling or grammar errors, although I will expect clarity).

The questions will be composed from the following:

Short answers:

1) What is the difference between sex, gender, and sexuality?

2) How do female and male humans differ physically? Why are male and female humans different physically from one another?

3) What is the difference between a primary and a secondary sex characteristic? Name two of each for males and two of each for females.

4) What is patriarchy?

5) What social purpose does patriarchy serve in a patrilineal society?

6) How does the Biblical story of Adam and Eve represent the values of patriarchy?

7) What is matriarchy, and what would be the differences between a patriarchal and a matriarchal culture? What social purpose does matriarchy serve in a matrilineal society?

8) Why do societies differentiate between male humans and female humans?

9) What is the purpose of legal restrictions on political rights like ownership or voting based on gender?

10) Why would some societies have a more open attitude toward gender-crossing than others? What purposes can/does crossing serve in a society, and what purposes might its restriction serve?

Essay questions--answer one of the following in a concise essay. Be sure to provide examples and to draw from your readings whenever possible.

1) Jay was born with XY chromosomes, a penis, and testicles; at the age of ten, Jay first kissed a girl. At the age of twenty, Jay began to wear women's clothing at all times and had waist-length hair; Jay began to date women who were comfortable with cross-dressing and who called themselves bisexual. At the age of thirty, Jay underwent surgical reassignment and became Jaye, acquiring a birth certificate which listed, under sex, "female"; after the surgery, Jaye started dating Harry, a man who had played college football on the same team as Jaye. What were Jay/Jaye's gender, sex, and sexuality at ages fifteen, twenty-five, and thirty-five? Be sure to defend your answers by explaining the data and theories you used to make each determination. How does the experience of the man-woman illustrate the ways in which different cultures construct gender, sex, and sexuality?

2) Why is women's history significant? How does knowing women's history play a role in one's life in the present (either one's life as a woman or as a man?) Knowing that women are all individuals, and that categories like race, class, and sexuality can greatly affect women's experiences, how do feminist historians conclude that there is such a thing as a "women's" history? Be sure to draw from the readings to provide examples to support your argument.

3) What are the connections between sex and gender? How has sex difference been used to support the argument that women are lesser (biological) versions of men? How has this resulted in social sanctions placed on both women and men (gender "rules")? What do societies lose and gain by treating men and women differently, and thus what are the ultimate benefits and costs of such sanctions?

4) Compare and contrast the ideas put forward by Virginia Woolf and Elsie Clews Parsons concerning women. Specifically, how does each writer envision women as shaped by both gender and sex? Do they differentiate between gender and sex in a consistent and logical way? What makes Orlando male or female? What makes Cynthia female?

5) What are Elsie Clews Parsons's and Virginia Woolf's views on the significance of women's history? How do they make the argument that the writing of women's histories will transform the present-day experiences of women? How do Parsons and Woolf write about race in Orlando and The Journal of a Feminist? Given these attitudes, what might be the shortcomings of their version of First Wave Feminism as a movement which unites all women along gender lines?