Read the following passage and answer the questions : Men and women should be…
2025
Read the following passage and answer the questions :
Men and women should be depicted as whole and individual human being. They should not be characterized by traditional attributes of their sexes. Women should be shown to have the same practical, positive and objective attributes as men. Similarly, men should also be represented as having unreasonable, subjective and negative attributes. In the portrayal of children, girls should often be shown as strong and even domineering. Both men and women should be treated with equal respect and dignity. While the outworn traditional attributes of each sex should end, their physical attributes should be avoided as far as possible. The sexist approach of viewing women as sex objects, cracking jokes at their expense and satirizing their issues, should be avoided. Likewise, men should not be characterized and ridiculed as over dependent on and dominated by women. The various spheres of activity should not be characterized by sexist demarcations but should include both men and women. Writers should avoid an attitude of disbelieving surprise at women's competence and efficacy. Women should be spoken of as active participants and not as men's possessions. Besides, women are as much initiators and originators as men.
While highlighting some of the gender related issues, the author intends to say that ________.
Answer: D. Both men and women may be the originators of any given activity — Concept — A question of the form “what does the author intend to say?” asks which statement the passage itself puts forward. The test is textual warrant: a…
- A.
both men and women should be characterised by traditional attributes
- B.
the men are viewed as a sex object
- C.
the women should dominate men
- D.
Both men and women may be the originators of any given activity
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept — A question of the form “what does the author intend to say?” asks which statement the passage itself puts forward. The test is textual warrant: a candidate qualifies only if the passage asserts it or directly implies it. A statement that reverses what the passage prescribes, or that transfers onto one group a claim the passage makes about another, has no warrant however reasonable it sounds on its own.
Application — Work through the closing movement of this passage. It prescribes that women “should be spoken of as active participants and not as men's possessions”, and then states the general claim outright: “Besides, women are as much initiators and originators as men.” That sentence puts the two sexes on the same footing as the source of an activity — either may be the one who initiates or originates it. “Both men and women may be the originators of any given activity” is that same claim restated, so it carries the passage's own warrant and is what the author intends to say.
Cross-check — Test the remaining statements against the text:
“both men and women should be characterised by traditional attributes” reverses the passage's second sentence, “They should not be characterized by traditional attributes of their sexes”, and its later demand that “the outworn traditional attributes of each sex should end”.
“the men are viewed as a sex object” transfers onto men a framing the passage raises only about women — “the sexist approach of viewing women as sex objects … should be avoided”; what the passage says about men is that they “should not be characterized and ridiculed as over dependent on and dominated by women”.
“the women should dominate men” overreads the single line on children's portrayal, where “girls should often be shown as strong and even domineering” corrects a passive stereotype; the passage's governing rule is that “Both men and women should be treated with equal respect and dignity”.
Result — The author's intent, as the passage states it, is the equal-originator claim: both men and women may be the originators of any given activity.