Instructions: Please read the instructions carefully and contact me if you have any questions prior to submitting your work.
After reviewing the readings and the PowerPoint the course site, you should complete the following tasks:
Answer the questions below. Your responses should be about one, 5 to 7 sentence, paragraph per question set (meaning numbers 1,2,3, etc. should be about one paragraph in length.) Your responses should demonstrate a clear engagement and understanding of the course material, critical application of the sociological concepts/theory and should include clear grammar and sentence structure.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You should cite any evidence/information from the text or other sources (this is important, if you do not cite, your work will be reported as plagiarism)
Please review the assignment rubric under 'Course Resources' for clearer indication of grading distribution and let me know if you have any questions/concerns.
Questions:
- To examine the concept of intersectionality, make a list of the five important aspects of what it means to you to be "gendered" (having a gender identity and practicing gender norms), including how you think, whom you interact with and how, what you wear, what you do or don’t do and so on. For each time on the list, does this aspect of what it means to you to be gendered apply to every social location in your society? In other words, do you think any of the items on your list are universal (true to everyone in that gender category, everywhere and in every time period), or are they all specific to your particular culture, time period and social background? Are they true for people in different racial groups, different social classes, different sexualities or different nationalities? (Read Coston and Kimmel Seeing Privilege Where it Isn’t for some help)
- We discussed the concept of gender attribution or how society assigns gender and/or sex onto a person or things. Think of three ways in which this is done in your own culture. How might gender attribution lead to discrimination or prejudice? How does this relate to the idea of the social construction of reality?
- Define the 4 types of masculinity proposed by RW Connell (slide 22 on the PowerPoint) and give one real world example of each. Which one do you feel is the most prevalent in today's societies and why?
