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Katha Pollitt, Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls

Katha Pollitt, Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls

Read Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

1. According to Pollitt, more and more we are being told that sex roles are

impervious to change, for whatever reason.

divinely mandated.

disappearing in our culture.

the result of chemical and hormonal factors rather than social factors.

2. Pollitt believes that differences in behavior by sex are an index of

the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the United States.

the failures of the socialist revolution of the 1960s.

inequality.

how unfinished the feminist revolution is.

3. Barbie demonstrates

everything that is false about the American Dream for women.

that being sexy, thin, and stylish is important for a woman.

the infiltration of the toy industry by radical consumerism.

that toys really have no impact on a child’s socialization.

4. Why do parents find theories of innate differences in behavior appealing?

Most parents have grown to think sex roles are not important.

Such theories are compatible with the predominant American philosophy of home and family.

They let parents off the hook.

Such pseudo-scientific rationales are innately appealing.

5. How does the author respond to the accusation that feminism imposes its own agenda on children?

If children are raised as feminists, they can always change later.

She wouldn’t call what feminism advocates for children an agenda.

Nothing could be further from the truth; feminism is all about free choice.

She agrees; child-rearing is all about imposing parental agendas on children.