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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the author's opinion of the early feminist belief about creating change?
(a) It was not idealistic enough.
(b) It was both idealistic and unrealistic.
(c) It was very forceful.
(d) It was too pessimistic.

2. What is the author's central theory about the nature (and practice) of violence against women?
(a) It is a manifestation and perpetuation of traditional patriarchal thought that men are powerful and women are victims.
(b) It is an innate part of male biology.
(c) It is a result of women entering the workforce in large numbers.
(d) Women invite violence by the way they dress.

3. What was the early feminist belief about creating change according to the author?
(a) It would happen once women took over the media.
(b) That demanding necessary change and pointing out areas for that change would be enough to make it happen.
(c) That armed resistance was the only way to achieve true change.
(d) That change would not take place for another generation.

4. What was the week point in feminists' initial view of power?
(a) They placed too much value on attaining power and not enough on its effects.
(b) They did not realize that power was not limited to men.
(c) They did not distinguish between power as domination and control over others and power that is creative and life-affirming.
(d) Their opinions were vague and lacked cohesion.

5. How does the author herself feel about the slow process of change and all the work that it involves?
(a) It will take less time than most people imagine.
(b) It is necessary if deeply held sexist, capitalist, imperialist beliefs are to change for the long term.
(c) It is extremely discouraging and tiresome for feminists who have been involved for some time.
(d) Her generation will not see the effects of true change.

6. How does the author characterize the majority of feminist writing?
(a) As naive and uncritical.
(b) As utopian.
(c) As intellectual, academic and/or theoretical.
(d) As accessible to most literate women.

7. Based on your overall understanding of this text, what approach is suggested by the title, Feminist Theory from Margin to Center?
(a) Feminism is now accepted because it includes men.
(b) Feminism started out on the margins and now it is mainstream.
(c) Feminist theory has been simplified to gain mass appeal.
(d) Feminist theory is changed, enhanced, and expanded by voices coming from the margins.

8. What can the kind of power practiced by women from non-affluent communities enable them to do?
(a) It can enable them to resist exploitation, freeing them to transform society for the better.
(b) It enables them to reinforce the patriarchal model of power.
(c) It will enable them to keep their jobs.
(d) It will not enable them to change anything.

9. In the author's view, which prejudices is it important for women of color to transcend?
(a) Prejudices against illiterate women.
(b) Prejudices against academics and/or intellectuals.
(c) Prejudices against rich women.
(d) Prejudices against their mothers' generation.

10. Why did many lower/middle class and/or non-white women respond to early feminist views on work as they did?
(a) They felt that the work they wanted would never be available.
(b) They were already working and new it was not the ideal situation that others imagined.
(c) They wanted to be included in the movement.
(d) They hoped to create strategies for career advancement.

11. According to the author, tensions about motherhood existed between which two schools of thought?
(a) Between feminists and civil rights activists.
(b) Between Americans and Europeans.
(c) Between early feminist thinking and traditional conception of motherhood.
(d) Between doctors and midwives.

12. In her discussion of attitudes towards sexuality, what common problem does the author say that women and gay men share?
(a) Their situations are totally dissimilar.
(b) They share similar oppressions in that neither fit the ideal model of male heterosexuality.
(c) People accuse them of whining.
(d) They both need better spokespeople for their movements.

13. Following the author's reasoning, what does a societal trend towards women identifying with and pursuing male models of power show?
(a) That women do not necessarily experience and wield power differently from men.
(b) It does not really show us anything one way or the other.
(c) That women are just as capable as men.
(d) That women lack the ability to develop their own models.

14. How did women working for change initially view the exercise of power?
(a) As something negative.
(b) As a rejection of femininity.
(c) As a luxury.
(d) As something to strive for.

15. What qualities does the author promote in this final chapter on change via the feminist movement?
(a) Aggression and intellectual aptitude.
(b) Patience and submission.
(c) Patience and active struggle.
(d) Suspicion and perseverance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do early feminist concepts of sexual liberty represent for the author?

2. What will happen if people follow the course of action regarding beliefs about motherhood proposed by the author?

3. Which one of the following is true of the author beliefs about child care centers?

4. Related to the issue of feminist writing, between which two groups does the author notice tension in the greater feminist movement?

5. In the author's view, what is the result, or effect, of some successful feminists' particular relationship with power?

(see the answer keys)

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