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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Were there ever alternate reactions to black women's efforts to participate in the early feminist movement, and if so what were they?
(a) Sometimes their ideas inspired new understanding and growth in the movement.
(b) Some white feminists rejected their ideas but most did not.
(c) Black women were always seen as a threat to the movement.
(d) Black feminists' ideas about class were accepted, but not their ideas about race.

2. How does the author view the concept of personal freedom?
(a) It runs the risk of promoting sexual infidelity.
(b) It is an honorable and uplifting concept.
(c) It is grounded in preserving the patriarchal, capitalist, individualist status quo.
(d) It promises to be an idea around which the feminist movement can rally.

3. According to the author, in Chapter 1, "Black Women - Shaping Feminist Theory," what were black feminists initially trying to do in the feminist movement?
(a) Be more like white feminists.
(b) To get more work.
(c) To expand the basis of feminist thought.
(d) Make new friends.

4. What is the primary "point of contact" between the oppressor and the oppressed?
(a) The work environment.
(b) There is very little actual contact.
(c) Absence of choices.
(d) Marriage.

5. What would this change in language suggest?
(a) It would affirm personal identity.
(b) It would make the idea of belonging to a movement more visible.
(c) It would be active rather than passive.
(d) It would suggest belief and participation in social action for change, rather than a confrontational approach.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the author's view, is it valid to define feminism in terms of creating a sense of community?

2. What did she notice about white female students at the time?

3. What were black women mostly encouraged to talk about in the early days of the feminist movement.

4. What major difference between white and black men does the author point out?

5. In general, the title of Chapter 1, "Black Women - Shaping Feminist Theory," relates to which of the following ideas?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the universal definitions of feminism that the author disagrees with? List several.

2. In Chapter Three, "The Significance of the Feminist Movement" how does the author describe her understanding of feminism and the family?

3. Are sexual liberty and "ending sexual oppression" the same thing for the author?

4. Who harbors sexist attitudes and what can be done about it?

5. Is true sisterhood, i.e. solidarity in the struggle to achieve feminist goals, supported by society, according to the author?

6. What is the author's view of feminism as a social movement in the Preface to the First Edition (1984)? What kind of movement does it need to be and why?

7. How does the author discuss feminists views on housework?

8. What doe the author mean when she says that black women have no "institutionalized other."

9. In Chapter Eleven, why does the author disagree with early feminist concepts of sexual liberty?

10. What does the author say about feminist writer Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique?

(see the answer keys)

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