Midterm Exam Questions
Queer Theory/Queer Lives, Spring 2007 (Mays/Erbaugh)

This exam is worth 20% of your grade. You will take the exam on Thursday, March 8 in class. You will have the whole class period to write the exam. You are allowed to bring with you one 3x5 or 5x7 card with notes for yourself. You do not need a blue book. If you have any questions, please ask via email or in class. Have a good week.

Short Answer Questions

1. Based on course readings and class discussions, summarize the relationship between the terms “sex” and “gender.”

2. In the articles we read by Anzaldúa and Lorde, what do they call us (and/or feminists/LGBTIQ people) to do with regard to difference?

3. Somerville critiques assumptions underlying statements such as, “Being gay is like being black.” What are Somerville’s main reasons for this critique?

4. According to our discussion on Clare and disability, how are disabled bodies often "read" in relation to notions of production and reproduction?

5. According to Foucault, what are two of the major institutions/processes that played roles in discourses about sex, sexuality and desire, and what roles did they play?

6. According to Sedgwick, how does the closet function to maintain and/or enforce notions of safety for both gay and straight people? Give an explanation and offer an example for each.

7. Give two examples of how normative notions of gender are enforced or challenged in the films Brokeback Mountain and/or Imagine Me & You.

8. What is Judith Butler's intervention in feminist theory?

9. According to Butler, what does drag imply in relation to gender performativity?

10. Drawing from Sullivan’s article on queering popular culture, explain three ways of looking through which spectators can queer a film or other popular cultural text.

11. Based on McFadden's article, choose a character from the Jack Benny show. Explain how that character's portrayal addressed social anxieties pertaining to race, class, gender and/or sexual identity. In your response, specify these anxieties and their sociohistorical context.

Essays – 1 page each

1. How do intersexuality and the intersex movement influence social norms about sex and gender? In your essay make at least two references to the articles and/or film on the topic.

2. What would your personal "theory in the flesh" include, based on your specific identities? Make at least two references to assigned texts.