T he r eader ’

 
 
[Bernards, Neal and Terry O’Neill. (Eds.)
Male/Female Roles: Opposing Viewpoints
. San 
Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1989, pp. 214-216.] 
5. We can infer from the passage that the author 

---

Chapter 12, Reading in the Social Sciences 57 
A. was a teacher interested in issues of discipline. 
B. is an individual interested in gender issues. 
C. has children. 
6. The author believes that 
A. inborn differences are a fact of life. 
B. male and female children are innately the same. 
C. environmental factors have no influence on defining gender. 
7. According to the author, girls and boys become strangers 
A. before they reach school age. 
B. when competing in spelling bees or dodge ball. 
C. when they “grow up free.” 
8. The author begins the excerpt by asking the reader to “name one famous friendship between a 
woman and a man . . .” in order to make the point that 
A. women were in the past and are currently the property of men. 
B. it is almost impossible to name one. 
C. there are many from which to choose. 
After reading the selection regarding men in today’s culture, answer the multiple-choice 
questions that follow.
The male hero image in our culture is reflected in the men who constitute our fantasy 
identification figures. Most of them share certain specific characteristics: emotional mutedness, 
an extremely independent style, lack of emotional vulnerability, and in general, a very narrow 
band of outward expressiveness. 
A group of eighty college men were asked by researchers to indicate their preferred 
heroes. As reported, they invariably preferred stories of males who were solitary, strong, 
independent, and in the process of actively striving to overcome obstacles. The heroes rarely 
gave signs of seeking out close relationships with people, although they did occasionally bestow 
on them a kind of impersonal attention, one which further served to demonstrate their own 
greater adequacy.
Today, despite often-heard verbalizations to the contrary, and an emphasis on feelings, 
there is still great discomfort and embarrassment when a man overtly and spontaneously 
expresses his emotions, breaks down in tears, rages in open anger or hate, trembles and shakes in 
fear, or even laughs too boisterously. Occasionally, when male political leaders show

---

58 Chapter 13, Reading in the Life and Natural Sciences 
spontaneous emotion their images become tarnished and they lose points, as when Senator 
Muskie openly lost his temper during the 1972 campaign, vice-presidential candidate Tom 
Eagleton was revealed to have experienced depressions, President Johnson pulled on the ears of 
his dog or showed the world his post-operative scar, or Kissinger lost his cool at a press 
conference. 
Clearly, the male is still in a cultural climate that has little authentic tolerance for his 
emotional expressiveness. 
[Goldberg, Herb.
The Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege
. New 
York: Signet, 1976, pp. 42-43.] 
9. Of the following which is not a characteristic of the male hero? 
A. emotional vulnerability 
B. independence 
C. few outward expressions 
10. Paragraph two uses which pattern of organization to support the main idea? 
A. cause-effect 
B. contrast 
C. example 
BONUS QUESTIONS
11. It can be inferred from the passage that U.S. society
A. needs more female leaders. 
B. is extremely tolerant of emotionally vulnerable males. 
C. does not respect male leaders who show emotion. 
12. It is implied that President Johnson was 
A. an animal activist. 
B. cruel. 
C. insane.