Spelling Bee: The Loaded Gender Quiz!

On Monday evening, the Season Six Finals of the Williamsburg Spelling Bee took place, with contestants Amy, Tamara, and Jonathan each taking home multitudinous prizes.

Bobby and I opened up the bee with the Williamsburg Spelling Bee theme song (the only time I ever sing in public -- come see it again in December!), and, as is the case during every Finals, I organized little mini-contests in between the rounds so those who aren't spelling (the finals are, of course, limited to the winners of that season's regular-season bees) can participate and win prizes.

In every Finals, some of the mini-contests are spelling-related (spelling backwards, spelling to a tune), one is a math competition, and, usually, one is trivia-related.

This season's trivia contest was something I called the "Loaded Gender Quiz": a team of two women answers questions about "guy stuff" and a team of two men answers questions about "girl stuff." Of course this is all dependent on various stereotypes, plus the patriarchy, and is very much culturally-bound and, in part, based on a sort of gendered '80s nostalgia. End of disclaimers -- here's the quiz:


LOADED GENDER QUIZ

GUY QUESTIONS (FOR GIRLS)

What's the title of a relief pitcher who only pitches the ninth inning or, in extreme situations, the last four or five outs of the game?

What is the common name of a Trichophyton rubrum fungal infection in the groin area?

Who were the bad guys in the Transformers cartoon series?

What is the aspect ratio of a traditional high-definition television image?

Cufflinks are required for what kind of cuffs?


GIRL QUESTIONS (FOR GUYS)

Of what illness are tampon users warned via a leaflet inside the box?

Name any babysitter in the Babysitters Club.

Name the metal structural support found in many bras.

If your lipstick is bleeding outside your actual lips, what item of makeup should you use?

What is a twinset?

(Incidentally, the guys -- two forty- or fiftysomethings -- won the contest, but chivalrously gave the prize to the girls, two roommates who, I take it, were not big Transformers fans. This is just as well, as I realized halfway through the contest that the guy-questions-for-girls were kind of harder, which was probably due to the fact that Mr. Intrepid Young Journalist helped me out on #1 and #4, and finds aspect ratios to be very manly).