WGS EXAM 1 2026/2027 | WOMEN'S & GENDER STUDIES STUDY
GUIDE, PRACTICE QUESTIONS, ANSWERS & EXAM REVIEW
Empirical article - ✔✔report on OG research using data (ex. interview, survey)
layout: abstract --> lit review --> current study/hypotheses --> methods --> results --> discussion
Review papers - ✔✔examine and summarize existing studies on a topic, identifying gaps or trends
without new data from participants
layout: abstract --> intro --> body --> discussion
Sex - ✔✔characteristics related to maleness, femaleness, and sex diversity. Typically understood as
biological, bodily, physical (ex. Penises, vulvas, breasts, etc)
Gender - ✔✔characteristics related to masculinity, femininity, and gender diveristy. Socialized, cultural,
or learned characteritics that may create to your roles, beliefs, or behaviors (ex. What you wear, your
behavior, how you express yourself, ...)
gender/sex - ✔✔refers to the ways that identities, whole people, and some specific aspects of people
can reflect both gender and sex in ways that are sometimes entangled and sometimes not
transgender woman - ✔✔a woman who was not assigned as a girl (or baby female baby) at birth
cisgender woman - ✔✔a woman who was assigned as a girl (or a female baby) at girl
gender/sex minority - ✔✔positions in power hierarchy that are marginalized or oppressed based on
gender/sex
gender/sex majority - ✔✔majorities or privileged positions in the power hierarchy linked to gender/sex
psychology of women - ✔✔subfield of psychology that focuses on the lives and experiences of girls and
women
psychology of gender - ✔✔subfield of psychology that examines the role of gender and gender
hierarchy on people's lives and experiences
feminism - ✔✔a movement, ideology, and philosophical perspective to end sexism, sexist exploitation,
and oppression
feminist psychology - ✔✔psychological research and theory explcitily informed by feminism
oppresion - ✔✔the ways in which certain people experience degradation because of political,
economic, or social realities
, marginalization - ✔✔the process where people are systematically denied power and excluded socially,
politically, and/or in terms of knowledge based on group membership
What beliefs and ideologies are driving gender/sex oppression and marginalization and whether science
supports/challenges them
"the personal is political" (Collins 2009) - ✔✔our personal lives are interconnected with larger social
systems
intersectionality - ✔✔the ways in which different axes of oppression are interconnected and therefore
cannot be studied separately
First Wave Feminism - ✔✔The feminist movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth century;
women gained the right to vote (1920)
2nd wave feminism - ✔✔1960s start; rejection of body restrictions, recognizing unrealistic beauty ideal;
particularly interested in social inequalities day to day lives of women
criticism of second wave focused on - ✔✔- Working class women and women of color's unique
experiences
- Black women in civil rights movement and feminist movement
3rd wave feminism - ✔✔- 1990s start
- challenged lack of diversity in mainstream feminist movements (focused on intersectionality); started
to reclaim things that were previously seen as sexist and oppressive
4th wave feminism - ✔✔2010s start; women’s march and me too movement
criticism of wave - ✔✔- White centered and Eurocentric view
the F word - ✔✔- A common misperception is that feminists are all the same
- Feminists think in many different ways
Liberal Feminism - ✔✔- Equal rights; remove structural inequalities and promote equal access to
resources and power for people of all genders
- People's choice not touched by government and society
radical feminism - ✔✔- Changing laws and policies isn't enough because patriarchy is too normative
and everywhere
- Equality requires new ways of thinking that are not androcentric (men centered)
lesbian feminism - ✔✔- under radical feminist
- sexuality and reproduction as a central place of oppression; heterosexuality is what sustains patriarchy
compulsory heterosexuality - ✔✔argues that sexuality is learned, and the dominant message in society
is that heterosexual romantic love is the only idea
socialist feminist - ✔✔Links to gender oppression with capitalism, an economic system in which power
is contracted through work and production
GUIDE, PRACTICE QUESTIONS, ANSWERS & EXAM REVIEW
Empirical article - ✔✔report on OG research using data (ex. interview, survey)
layout: abstract --> lit review --> current study/hypotheses --> methods --> results --> discussion
Review papers - ✔✔examine and summarize existing studies on a topic, identifying gaps or trends
without new data from participants
layout: abstract --> intro --> body --> discussion
Sex - ✔✔characteristics related to maleness, femaleness, and sex diversity. Typically understood as
biological, bodily, physical (ex. Penises, vulvas, breasts, etc)
Gender - ✔✔characteristics related to masculinity, femininity, and gender diveristy. Socialized, cultural,
or learned characteritics that may create to your roles, beliefs, or behaviors (ex. What you wear, your
behavior, how you express yourself, ...)
gender/sex - ✔✔refers to the ways that identities, whole people, and some specific aspects of people
can reflect both gender and sex in ways that are sometimes entangled and sometimes not
transgender woman - ✔✔a woman who was not assigned as a girl (or baby female baby) at birth
cisgender woman - ✔✔a woman who was assigned as a girl (or a female baby) at girl
gender/sex minority - ✔✔positions in power hierarchy that are marginalized or oppressed based on
gender/sex
gender/sex majority - ✔✔majorities or privileged positions in the power hierarchy linked to gender/sex
psychology of women - ✔✔subfield of psychology that focuses on the lives and experiences of girls and
women
psychology of gender - ✔✔subfield of psychology that examines the role of gender and gender
hierarchy on people's lives and experiences
feminism - ✔✔a movement, ideology, and philosophical perspective to end sexism, sexist exploitation,
and oppression
feminist psychology - ✔✔psychological research and theory explcitily informed by feminism
oppresion - ✔✔the ways in which certain people experience degradation because of political,
economic, or social realities
, marginalization - ✔✔the process where people are systematically denied power and excluded socially,
politically, and/or in terms of knowledge based on group membership
What beliefs and ideologies are driving gender/sex oppression and marginalization and whether science
supports/challenges them
"the personal is political" (Collins 2009) - ✔✔our personal lives are interconnected with larger social
systems
intersectionality - ✔✔the ways in which different axes of oppression are interconnected and therefore
cannot be studied separately
First Wave Feminism - ✔✔The feminist movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth century;
women gained the right to vote (1920)
2nd wave feminism - ✔✔1960s start; rejection of body restrictions, recognizing unrealistic beauty ideal;
particularly interested in social inequalities day to day lives of women
criticism of second wave focused on - ✔✔- Working class women and women of color's unique
experiences
- Black women in civil rights movement and feminist movement
3rd wave feminism - ✔✔- 1990s start
- challenged lack of diversity in mainstream feminist movements (focused on intersectionality); started
to reclaim things that were previously seen as sexist and oppressive
4th wave feminism - ✔✔2010s start; women’s march and me too movement
criticism of wave - ✔✔- White centered and Eurocentric view
the F word - ✔✔- A common misperception is that feminists are all the same
- Feminists think in many different ways
Liberal Feminism - ✔✔- Equal rights; remove structural inequalities and promote equal access to
resources and power for people of all genders
- People's choice not touched by government and society
radical feminism - ✔✔- Changing laws and policies isn't enough because patriarchy is too normative
and everywhere
- Equality requires new ways of thinking that are not androcentric (men centered)
lesbian feminism - ✔✔- under radical feminist
- sexuality and reproduction as a central place of oppression; heterosexuality is what sustains patriarchy
compulsory heterosexuality - ✔✔argues that sexuality is learned, and the dominant message in society
is that heterosexual romantic love is the only idea
socialist feminist - ✔✔Links to gender oppression with capitalism, an economic system in which power
is contracted through work and production
