1000+ Literary Theory MCQs – Part 16: Gender & Queer Theory

1. Who is Judith Butler?

1. A published fiction writer
2. A famous French speaker
3. An American philosopher
4. A Harvard professor

2. For what type of performative theory was Judith Butler known?

1. Gender and sexuality
2. Political climate
3. Roles in the workforce
4. Religious phrasing

3. The author of Gender Trouble is

1. Judith Butler
2. Hélène Cixous
3. Michèle Barrett
4. Elaine Showalter

4. Who is associated with the idea of gender performativity?

1. Elaine Showalter
2. Simone de Beauvoir
3. Chandra Talpade Mohanty
4. Judith Butler

5. Butler describes the presumed existing feminine identity as which of the following?

1. Childish
2. Masculine
3. Woman
4. Political

6. Many feminists believe that one must develop which of the following?

1. A socially prescribed identity
2. A political identity
3. A childish identity
4. A feminine identity

7. Which of the following does Butler describe as always being a part of the language of gender?

1. Constraint
2. Determinism
3. Sexuality
4. Bodies

8. Ontology requires appearance to match which of the following?

1. Language
2. Existence
3. Reality
4. Theory

9. The short title of a founding text of queer theory:

1. Gender Bender
2. Gender Games
3. Gender Mender
4. Gender Trouble

10. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (1993) is an important work by:

1. Betty Friedan
2. Judith Butler
3. Catherine Clément
4. Hélène Cixous

11. Place these works of Judith Butler chronologically according to the date of publication:

1. I, III, IV, II
2. I, II, III, IV
3. IV, III, I, II
4. II, IV, III, I

12. Which of the following statements are true?

1. Statements 1, 2 and 4 only are true.
2. Statements 1, 2 and 3 only are true.
3. Statements 1 and 2 only are true.
4. All the statements are true.

13. Who argued for the fluidity of identity, including sexual identity, in the highly influential Epistemology of the Closet?

1. Eve Sedgwick
2. Diana Fuss
3. Judith Butler
4. Rock Meyer

14. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet is a seminal work on:

1. Gynocriticism
2. Womanism
3. Gay and Lesbian Criticism
4. Black Feminism

15. Who coined the term ‘queer theory’ (queer studies)?

1. Judith Butler
2. Teresa de Lauretis
3. bell hooks
4. Gloria Anzaldúa

16. Lesbian and gay literary theory emerged prominently as a distinct field only in the ________.

1. 2000s
2. 1960s
3. 1970s
4. 1990s

17. Who wrote the essay “What Has Never Been: An Overview of Lesbian Feminist Criticism”, attacking “essentialism” and pointing out how “the perceptual screen of heterosexism” prevented any consideration of lesbian issues in pioneering feminist writing?

1. Bonnie Zimmerman
2. Muriel Spark
3. Adrienne Rich
4. Anne Koedt

18. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic contained ________ passing reference(s) to lesbianism.

1. 20
2. 3
3. 1
4. 9

19. In the 1990s a second, less essentialist, notion of lesbianism emerged, within the sphere of what is now known as ________.

1. Reception theory
2. Speech act theory
3. Hybrid theory
4. Queer theory

20. Lesbian theory that broke away from feminism and made new allegiances, in particular with gay men rather than with other women, is called “queer theory” or ________.

1. Homosexual education
2. Queer studies
3. Homosexual concepts
4. Heterosexual examinations

21. The institutional acceptance of the term “queer” dates from a 1990 conference on “queer theory” at which major university?

1. University of Florida
2. University of New Mexico
3. University of California
4. University of New York

22. Match the items in List I with the items in List II according to the codes given below:

1. 3 1 2 4
2. 3 1 4 2
3. 4 2 1 3
4. 4 3 1 2

23. Given below are two statements, one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other labelled as Reason (R). Read the statements and choose the correct answer using the code given below.

1. A is only partly addressed in R.
2. R does not follow logically from A.
3. R is A and vice versa.
4. A and R are most logically related.

24. Which among the following texts can be characterised as a lesbian Bildungsroman?

1. Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
2. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
3. Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop
4. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust

25. What is homoeroticism?

1. The sexual preference of women for men
2. The sexual preference of men for women
3. The sexual preference of women for women
4. The sexual preference of men for men