Category: Gender studies

Your major paper in this course is a research paper on a topic of your choosing. You may wish to investigate any number issues related to media images and the body, such as: body horror, healthy and diseased bodies, dismembered bodies, sexualized bodies, aging bodies, reproductive bodies, dead bodies in media, racialized/colonialized bodies, gendered bodies, children’s bodies, fetishized bodies, athlete bodies, celebrity bodies, differently abled bodies, classed bodies, fat and thin bodies, modified or subversive bodies, drug using bodies, the disembodied, religious bodies, tortured and punished bodies, pornographic bodies, non-human and animal bodies, body surveillance or cyborg bodies. You might address images of the body in any number of media forms including social and digital media, news media, television or film, magazines, social media, comics, or any other popular cultural form. Papers should the relationship between media images and the body as it connects to one or more of the course themes (sexuality, socialization, identity, racism, classism, ageism, social norms et cetera). The topic of the paper is flexible – be creative!
The paper should be between 8-10 double spaced pages. As this is a research paper, you should draw on a minimum of six empirical, scholarly, social science sources (these should be outside/in addition to the require readings for the course). The paper should review what is known about your topic and provide insights/implications for future research in the area.

This final project uses our course themes or texts as a launching pad for further thought and exploration. If you submit a creative work, you must include a written description of your work, connecting it in some way to the readings we have discussed this semester. Whatever form your final project takes, it should engage with at least three of the assigned readings in some depth.
If you do an essay take 3 course readings and find 3 scholarly journals
And do not forget citations, as 5 points of your grade are assigned for appropriate citations, this includes citations for your previous works as well. You are welcome to draw from your work for other courses, however, remember to cite them in your bibliography.  For citations, please use MLA. Every time you refer to a text, either directly quoting or paraphrasing, include the page number in your reference
I will include my proposal on 
the topic I have chosen you can work off of that 
No

Do you think the President and Vice President should continue to be elected by the Electoral College or should we move to a direct election by voters? Explain and defend your answer.

Forced Migration Simulation OR Research Project.
Forced Migration Simulation
Your task is to design a simulation quiz in a “choose-your-own-adventure” style in order to
teach the general public about the forced migration experience. The assignment consists of:
1. Opening Scenario: Describe who “you” are, the context of your forced migration, and
anything else that is needed. One to two paragraphs (max 150 words)
2. Questions, Options and Consequences: at least 6 multiple choice questions with at least
two options per question and specific consequences for each option. Each set of
questions, options and consequences should contain reference(s) to course materials.
Max 300 words per set (300 x 6).
3. Critical Reflections: Please write about your main objectives and considerations in
designing the simulation quiz, as well as specific policy recommendations that emerge
from your simulation quiz. This section should also contain references to course
materials (max 800 words; please ensure that you have proper paragraphs).
You are expected to draw on at least 5 sources from the course. You will be asked to illustrate
key concepts, laws or policies, challenges etc., in your scenarios. No outside research is
required. Further instructions and an example will be posted on Blackboard.
Research Project
Your research project may take any of the following forms:
6
• Traditional scholarly essay (1500 to 2000 words)
• Academic Blog (1500 – 2000 words)
• Podcast, script, and shownotes (10-15 minutes)
A list of suggested topics, “how to” directions, and evaluation expectations will be provided on
Blackboard.
All research projects, regardless of form of delivery, require reference to at least 5 sources, 3 of
which are peer reviewed academic articles or chapters in edited books. Appropriate non-
academic sources include investigative journalism, academic blogs, NGO reports, news articles,
documentaries.

https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-08-11672/MILLER-DISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
https://www-taylorfrancis-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315684062-50/towards-trans-cinema-eliza-steinbock
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/arts/gaysploitation-upends-the-stereotypes-that-make-us-wince.html

Much of this course is thinking across texts from the 90s to the present. I have curated a genealogy of queer and trans studies and in your final assignment you will create your own genealogy. Throughout the course you will be introduced to a number of broad areas within queer and trans studies (diaspora, performance studies, futurity, queer/trans of color, geographies & geopolitics, normativity, violence & necropolitics). Students should select one of these topics and consider what scholars have contributed to this topic and how they have contributed to that topic. Your assignment should include sources that have a wide range of dates, meaning you have done enough research to get a sense of some of the earliest texts that were published on your topic. You can begin thinking about this assignment by scanning journals and special issues and make note of specific topics and ideas that interest you (GLQ, QED, Lesbian studies, TSQ, Social Text). In addition, one great to way to think about genealogy is to turn to the bibliography from the assigned readings. List of journals in gender, sexuality, and feminist studies:
https://www.mcgill.ca/igsf/graduate/resources/journals-gender-sexuality-and-feminist-studies
Option #1: Essay Style Genealogy
This final assignment will be 2500-3000 words. The assignment should include 6 academic sources and 1-2 of your 6 academic sources should be course readings. This means you will research and find 4-5 academic sources that will be a part of your genealogy depending on whether you use 1 or 2 course readings. The assignment will involve you having to summarize each of your selected texts but also reflecting on how they have contributed to your topic. The genealogy is intended to highlight major shifts within your topic. Regarding the teacher’s request to use 2 readings from course reading list. I have attached the syllabus. Please take a look at the themes and titles first to see which ones interest you. I will download and send you those. Otherwise, uploading all the files would be too much.

Hi could you help me anwer some short question which is about a page. for this assigment. you have to watch a documentary though its like an hour. it’s about gender queer studiesso I would prefer somoen who likes more socil justice. Thanks

Purpose: Students will be required to select one of three proposed reforms and provide a 2500 word submission to the Victorian state government which outlines the arguments in favour and against the introduction of the reform.
Value: 50%
Word count: 2500 (not including reference list)
Instructions: Following the state election, the Victorian Government is considering reform of legal responses to family violence, as part of which they are specifically seeking submissions on the merits of this reform:
The introduction of a state-wide domestic violence disclosure scheme
You have been invited to provide an expert submission to the government. In you submission you should select one of the above reforms to focus on. Drawing on the material that you have read as part of the Topic 3 readings as well as your own research your responses should:
Examine the merits of your selected reform (including who would benefit from its introduction and what limits in present legal responses it would address),
Critically analyse any limits or potential unintended consequences of your selected reform, and
Make a recommendation as to whether the Victorian Government should proceed with the reform selected. 
Your submission should reference relevant Australian and international research to support its case for or against the reform selected.
Referencing: Please use Harvard. 
 Required Readings
Fitz-Gibbon, K., Walklate, S. & Reeves, E. (2024) Informed and safe, or blamed and at risk? Examining the merits and limits of domestic violence disclosure schemes in Australia and New Zealand. Monash University and the University of Liverpool. 
 Recommended Reading
Fitz-Gibbon, K & Walklate, S (2016), ‘The efficacy of Clare’s law in domestic violence law reform in England and Wales’, Criminology & Criminal Justice, 17(3), pp. 284-300. 
Fitz-Gibbon, K., Walklate, S. & Reeves, E. (2024) Domestic violence disclosure schemes may not improve safety for victim-survivors of intimate partner violence.May 3. The Conversation.   – https://theconversation.com/domestic-violence-disclosure-schemes-may-not-improve-safety-for-victim-survivors-of-intimate-partner-violence-228994 
Leigh has published extensively on this topic, including her recent book. Read Leigh Goodmark’s (2004) and (2009) articles which question the value of legal system interventions; she argues that we need to rethink our approach to law and policy in responding to family violence.
Required Readings:
Goodmark, L (2004), ‘Law Is the Answer-Do We Know That for Sure: Questioning the Efficacy of Legal Interventions for Battered Women’, Louis U. Pub. L. Rev., 23, pp. 7-48. 
Goodmark, L (2009), ‘Reframing Domestic Violence Law and Policy: An Anti-Essentialist Proposal’, Wash. UJL & Pol’y, 31, pp. 39-56. 
These articles encourage you to rethink what is justice from a victim-survivor perspective and whether a legal intervention can ever provide the outcome victim-survivors want from the system.
We also encourage you to consider Leigh’s argument as you reflect on the various reform options we examined in part 1. 
Here is a video of a seminar Leigh Goodmark delivered in 2022 discussing her newest book, which focuses on criminalisation, the idea of the ‘imperfect victim’, and abolition feminism. You can find the recording and summary of this presentation here. 
The following is a recommended article that encourages you to consider the argument for systems reform via an examination of the lived experiences of migrant women (a topic we will examine in greater depth in Topic 4). 
Abraham, M & Tastsoglou, E (2016), ‘Addressing domestic violence in Canada and the United States: The uneasy co-habitation of women and the state’, Current Sociology Monograph, 64(4) pp. 568–585. 
Recommended Readings 
There are several recommended readings relevant to this topic’s case studies for any students who wish to expand their understandings of the reforms covered in Topic 3. You may also find these helpful for the assessment. 
Barlow, C, Johnson, K & Walklate, S (2018), ‘Coercive control cases have doubled – but police still miss patterns of this domestic abuse’, The Conversation, 24 July. 
Burman, M, & Brooks-Hay, O (2018), ‘Aligning policy and law? The creation of a domestic abuse offence incorporating coercive control’, Criminology & Criminal Justice, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 67–83.
Douglas, H (2018), ‘Legal systems abuse and coercive control’, Criminology & Criminal Justice, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 84–99.
Duggan, M (2018), ‘Victim hierarchies in the domestic violence disclosure scheme’, International Review of Victimology, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 199-217. 
Hester, M (2013), ‘Who does what to whom?’ European Journal of Criminology, 10, pp. 623-637
Myhill, A (2017), ‘Renegotiating domestic violence: Police attitudes and decisions concerning arrests’, Policing and Society. 
Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016), ‘Volume III: Offences and sentencing’, Report and Recommendations, Royal Commission into Family Violence, Victoria, pp. 211-215. 
Stark E (2007), Coercive Control: How men entrap women. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Walklate, S and Fitz-Gibbon, K (2019), ‘The criminalisation of coercive control: The power of law?’ International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy , vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 94-108. 
Walklate, S & Fitz-Gibbon, K (2018), Criminology and the violence (s) of Northern theorizing: A critical examination of policy transfer in relation to violence against women from the global North to the global South. In The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South (pp. 847-865). Palgrave Macmillan. 
Wangmann, J (2016), ‘Has he been violent before? Domestic violence disclosure schemes’, Alternative Law Journal, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 230-234. 

Forced Migration Simulation OR Research Project.
Forced Migration Simulation
Your task is to design a simulation quiz in a “choose-your-own-adventure” style in order to
teach the general public about the forced migration experience. The assignment consists of:
1. Opening Scenario: Describe who “you” are, the context of your forced migration, and
anything else that is needed. One to two paragraphs (max 150 words)
2. Questions, Options and Consequences: at least 6 multiple choice questions with at least
two options per question and specific consequences for each option. Each set of
questions, options and consequences should contain reference(s) to course materials.
Max 300 words per set (300 x 6).
3. Critical Reflections: Please write about your main objectives and considerations in
designing the simulation quiz, as well as specific policy recommendations that emerge
from your simulation quiz. This section should also contain references to course
materials (max 800 words; please ensure that you have proper paragraphs).
You are expected to draw on at least 5 sources from the course. You will be asked to illustrate
key concepts, laws or policies, challenges etc., in your scenarios. No outside research is
required. Further instructions and an example will be posted on Blackboard.
Research Project
Your research project may take any of the following forms:
6
• Traditional scholarly essay (1500 to 2000 words)
• Academic Blog (1500 – 2000 words)
• Podcast, script, and shownotes (10-15 minutes)
A list of suggested topics, “how to” directions, and evaluation expectations will be provided on
Blackboard.
All research projects, regardless of form of delivery, require reference to at least 5 sources, 3 of
which are peer reviewed academic articles or chapters in edited books. Appropriate non-
academic sources include investigative journalism, academic blogs, NGO reports, news articles,
documentaries.

Analytical/Close Reading Essay: For this assignment, you will be asked to focus
on one idea or theme in three texts from the list of course readings/videos
on D2L (two of which must be readings). In a five page, double-spaced essay,
you will explore how the idea or theme has been especially meaningful and
inspiring to you in your thinking about feminism as a movement for social justice
and transformation. You will be expected to discuss how the idea is defined and
explored in the three texts. This process will involve looking closely at the
nuances and subtleties of the different arguments, at the differences and
similarities. For example, you could explore how Audre Lorde uses the term
“mythical norm” and look at how this concept surfaces in two other texts. Or you
might discuss three works that explore body image, heteronormativity, or class
inequality. You will be asked to provide a closing overview and argument for your
paper in which you will summarize the central idea and its treatment in the
pieces. You may use either MLA or APA formatting. Remember to quote
sparingly. I want to see that you understand and are able to explain the ideas in
your own words.
Criteria for Evaluation
–close, focused analysis of chosen texts
–clear understanding of the central arguments in the texts
–a clear thread of argument connecting the texts
–adherence to the assignment guidelines and requirements
–clarity of expression
–unified paragraphs
–organization of ideas within and between paragraphs