Assignment
Write a 1,800-2,000 word research paper on the relationship(s) between Womeni, Sexualityii, and Technology.iii
REQUIRED COMPONENTS: All papers must:
1) provide a clear, succinct, and supportable claim (or argument) that centers explicitly on a particular technology which plays (or has played) a significant role in the sexual lives of a specific group of womeniv
2) incorporate and intensively engage with peer-reviewed scholarly literature to support that claim, showing how that literature informs, expands upon, and/or problematizes various aspects of that claim
3) provide a compelling and persuasive argument for the significance of your claim. You MUST justify why your specific claim is worth our consideration. Who are the stakeholders and what is at stake? This is as the "So What?" question. It is NOT enough to say it is important simply because no one has really studied it before!
Read the entirety of the attached document.
Most students find the third component the most challenging to develop. At least one of the following approaches could be used to develop a justification for the significance of your claim, including feminist concerns about sexual citizenship, public health, bioethics, social justice, social inequality resulting from gender bias, gender equity, racial discrimination, poverty, etc., and basic human rights related to sexuality, freedom of sexual expression, the right to sexual pleasure, the right sexual health, the right to have access to information about sexuality, sexual health, etc., the right to live a life without sexual discrimination, sexual terrorism and assault, and so on. You could also justify the importance of your claim by incorporating a specific theoretical debate, conceptual tool, paradigm, or framework, such as feminist theory, performativity, intersectionality theory, social constructionism, script theory, critical race theory, hegemony, feminist praxis, conflict theory, cultural materialism, standpoint theory, structuralism, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, social learning theory, post-colonialism, game theory, you name it!
BE CAREFUL! Make sure that whatever conceptual tool(s) you make reference to are used to frame your paper and/or inform argument, not just hurriedly or haphazardly referred to in order to give the appearance of deep intellectual thought). You should demonstrate that you are able to articulate not only what it is, but how it helps to inform your claim and/or its significance. Better yet, throw us a curve ball and use one of these tools to suggest how it they might complicate your claim, or compel further research.
i In this document, I am choosing to use the word "woman" as inclusive of anyone who self- identifies as a woman or girl, including trans or intersexed women, it does not include individuals who have been assigned as "females" at birth by a doctor, but self-identify as male or genderqueer. Womanhood can be defined in many ways, and my use of the term in this way is intentional and strategic in that I choose to place more importance on gender identity, roles, and expression than on the medicalized interpretation of certain phenotypes (visible physiological characteristics, such as genitalia). [STUDENTS, IF YOU WISH, TAKE THE TIME TO READ MY "NOTES" (provided as a separate document directly below this one on Blackboard) ABOUT WHY I TOOK THE TIME TO ADD THIS NOTE. I HAVE UPLOADED THOSE COMMENTS AS A MEMO SO I DON'T DISTRACT YOU FROM THE TASK AT HAND. THE TAKE HOME POINT IS: DO NOT ASSUME YOUR READER SHARES THE SAME UNDERSTANDING OF SPECIFIC TERMS, OR WOULD USE THEM IN THE SAME WAY. IF YOU HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE DEFINITION OF A TERM IS CONTROVERSIAL, AND THAT THIS CONTROVERSY IS IN SOME WAY HIGHLY RELEVANT TO YOUR PAPER, INCLUDING A BRIEF FOOTNOTE TO CLARIFY HOW YOU ARE USING A SPECIFIC TERM IN YOUR PAPER MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN ORIENTING BOTH YOUR READER, AND YOURSELF, IN TERMS OF WHAT YOU PLAN TO INCLUDE OR EXCLUDE.]
ii Sexuality can encompass sexual identities, roles, scripts, behaviors, etc. While all sexualities are gendered in some way, they may also be shaped by a multitude of social characteristics related to power and privilege, such as race, or class, even nationality and citizenship. But, sexuality is NOT synonymous with gender, race, class, or any other socially relevant form of difference. Do NOT make the mistake of conflating gender with sexuality. This is an upper division course offered by the Women and Gender Studies program, and we fully expect that you should already know how to use (and not misuse) the basic terminology that is so central to our field.
iii Insert a term that indicates the specific technology you plan to cover, anything that you set out to prove plays a significant role in the sexual lives of some particular group of girls or women is up for grabs! Consider how, why, or in what contexts that specific technology is used, the diverse sexual experiences that this technology enables, the ways in which that technology mediates our interpretations of our sexual identities or experiences, etc. Examples might include such things as transportation systems (cars, subways, airplanes), communication systems (phones, cameras, social media, phone apps, internet chat rooms, online support groups, snapchat), new occupational venues enabled by technological change (factory work vs. working remotely in IT or customer service), new recreational opportunities developed as a result of technological innovations (gaming, travel), aesthetic technologies (cosmetic surgery, costumes, make up, artificial nails), technologies directly intended to enhance sexual pleasure (sex toys, iVibe, virtual reality devices), and so on.
If you are a confident risk taker, you can throw a bunch of ideas on the wall and see what sticks, and then find out if this is something that been studied in some way by multiple authors, and if there are course materials that are relevant to your specific argument (it's always fun for us to read something innovative or unexpected, but make sure you can support your claim very well, or your grade could be significantly impacted). If you can't afford to take that risk, select a topic already covered in our course materials, develop a claim by synthesizing those sources, and then identify external resources to further support and/or complicate a claim directly connected to something made in our course.
iv In laying out both the title of your paper and the central claim that you seek to support in your paper, be specific as possible in terms of defining the specific demographic group you are writing about, and if its relevant, isolate, or compare, variations within that group in terms of race, culture, class, age, citizenship, etc. Do NOT overgeneralize your statements and say things that imply that all women share the same experiences and understandings of the specific technology you are addressing in your paper. In fact, most scholars in gender and sexuality studies EXPECT to find a diverse range of experiences in terms of sexual life - whether or not this has been covered in the research with respect to a specific technology should be one of the first questions that you ask yourself when you start to develop your central claim(s) for this paper. You might have a perfectly justifiable topic but insufficient evidence, a lack of evidence does not indicate that your claim is not potential VALID, simply that it is not a VIABLE topic for this assignment.
Attachment:- NOTES.pdf