Gender Exercises: Final project:
1. Start by selecting one of the topics below and answer the questions or complete the exercises required.
2. You will need to have a few things integrated into your findings based on your research. 1) Find at least TWO concepts from the text as to how they relate to your findings. These should be CITED from the text. 2) Find TWO outside research articles that relate to your findings/topic, as well. These should be research articles from peer-reviewed journals, if possible.
3. So, the structure of your paper should be the following:
• An introduction of your topic
• Your findings/analysis
• How your findings relate to TWO concepts from the text
• How your findings relate to TWO research journals
4. Make sure you use proper citation format in your paper - APA, ASA preferred. By now, for an upper division course, you should be able to cite correctly, RIGHT?
5. Due date: Check the syllabus. These papers can be submitted online, we can discuss that.
6. FINALLY, ENJOY DOING THIS. TRY NOT TO SEE IT AS A BURDEN OR JUST ONE MORE THING YOU HAVE TO DO.
7. FINALLY, Finally, please proofread!
8. Paper length: 4 to 5 pages maximum
Possible topics:
Topic: Gender and our Bodies: Investigate the gender of current products designed to help people alter their bodies in some way. You might begin by making a list of all the products that fall into this category (if you are creative, this could be a fairly long list). Then think about which of these products seem to be aimed primarily at men, which at men, and which at both sexes. Look at the advertisements for these products in magazines, television ads, or on the internet. What gender messages are begin sent in these advertisements? What does your investigation suggest about men's and women's feelings about their bodies? (as an alternative, you can do research on how we manipulate our body to meet the gender binary goal e.g. cosmetic surgery)
Topic: Culture and Menstruation Taboos: Many cultureshave menstruation taboos, dictating behaviors women can and cannot engage in when they are menstruating. Use online resources and your library to do some research on how different cultures think about menstruation and the norms they have regarding this biological process. How do these practices compare with those in your own culture?
Topic: Division of Labor in your Household: Write an essay in which you describe what the division of household labor was like in your own house growing up. Who did what, and how did everyone seem to feel about it? Were there tensions over who did what tasks? What would be your ideal division of household labor if you were to form your own household?
Topic: Couples and Household Labor: Interview some couple about their division of household labor. You might interview both together or each separately. Come up with an extensive list of all the tasks that are involved in maintaining a household, and ask your respondents who does each of these tasks on a regular basis. You might also ask them what they feel the ideal division of household labor is and how close their own situation comes to that. How does your interview line up with the research?
Topic: Gender and Work: Do your own investigation on the gender wage gap and sex segregation. Information for the United States is available at the following website? www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.pdf. Pick some occupations you are interested in and look up the percentage of females in that occupation, and then calculate the gender wage gap. What's surprising about this information? Can you find an occupation in which women make more than men? What theories might you develop about which occupations tend to be more segregated than others and which lave large gender wage gaps? (Note on the website, I had to copy and paste in my browser).
Topic: Men and Video Games: Research by Michael Kimmel (2008) suggests that many college-age men play video games as a means of relaxation, revenge, and restoration. Find some people who play videos games and interview them about their experiences with playing video games. You might ask them what kind of games they like, what they enjoy about playing, and what they think the effects of playing videos games might be, as well as what gender messages they believe are contained in the video games they play. How do your findings compare to research?
Topic: Gender and Music: Explore the ways in which the gender of the artist or creator of various media genres does or does not impact the ways in which gender is depicted in their creations. You might pick music produced by female and male musicians and then analyze the gender content of their music and lyrics. Do women and men seem to sing about different things, or is their gender unimportant to their music?
Topic: Gender and History: Test your friend's knowledge of women's history and women's role in history. Ask them to name 10 famous historical men and 10 famous historical women in the United States. Entertainers (actresses and musicians) don't count. How many women on average can people name? Try to explain your findings. You can try to do this with various ages and races. What differences, if any, do you find?
Topic: Gender and Fear: Investigate the idea of the geography of fear as it connects to gender. Interview men and women about whether they have very felt unsafe in a public space. As them about specific places in your community or neighborhood and how safe they assume those places to be. As them for stories about specific times when they felt unsafe or were harassed in a public space. If they had these experiences, how did they deal with them/ Do gender differences emerge in your interview? What kind of things leadwomen and men to feel unsafe in public spaces? Do women seem to have a geography of fear?
Topic: Is our society changing from the binary?Do a scavenger hunt. Find SIX (6) artifacts in our surroundings (malls, schools, billboards, etc.) that reflect changing gender norms, views, roles, and/or attitudes. For example, one place to start would be TARGET that started to undifferentiated product areas for boys and girls. What is your conclusion?
Topic: Men and Masculinity. Reviewing Tony Porter's The Man Box, Michael Kimmel's Ted Talk and for this one you would have to go to the lecture by Jonathan Katz (he's going to be on campus) OR review the video, Tough Guise. Write a summary of the key themes presented in each of these talks/videos. Relate your findings to the concepts in Ch. 6 on Men and Masculinity and some of the research done in this area.
Topic: Self Reflection on Gender Socialization. Using a childhood picture as the start, consider the ways in which you were socialized into your gender (or not). Who influenced you and in what ways? Parents, siblings, peers, your school. Reflect upon the concepts in our text on this topic and link them to your essay.