Due date:  Wednesday Sept. 20 -- BRING 2 COPIES TO CLASS
You have two options for this project: an essay (below) or a visual representation of your own gender identity with a short(er) written reflection (go to Option 2).

Option 1: Short paper
Topic:  Gender Socialization
Length:  3-5 pages double-spaced

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate your thinking about who you are, how you perceive the world, and how you arrived at the identity or beliefs you now hold with regard to sex and gender.

Guidelines:
1.  In the paper, specifically state at least one of your beliefs regarding sex and/or gender (for example, do you hold certain values or beliefs about your own gender identity?  Based on your experience: do you agree or disagree with any of the opinions presented in the readings or discussed in class?  Are gender differences good/bad?  Are the origins of sex and gender innate or learned?)

2.  Discuss where you think these beliefs came from (family, community, peers, religion, etc., or some combination?  Are ethnicity, race, class, etc. important factors?). This is the main point of the assignment; focus your writing on this aspect of the paper.

3.  Incorporate at least two references, one of which must be an assigned reading. Your second reference can be another assigned reading, a film or topic discussed in class, or an outside source (other texts, films, performances, interviews/conversations, etc).

4.  The paper should be typed and double-spaced with 1-inch margins.  Correct spelling and grammar is expected.

5.  You must use citations correctly!  This means using quotes correctly when using text word-for-word, citing your source when paraphrasing someone else's idea, and in either case, providing the author's name, year published, and if a quote, the page number.  You can use any citation style (ASA, APA, MLA), as long as you are consistent.  Examples of acceptable ways to cite sources follow. Citation of sources is very important; see your syllabus for more on the dangers of plagiarism. Plagiarized work will get no credit.

If quoting the text book:
I agree with the authors of Women, Men and Society that "the development of a masculine or feminine gender identity is quite independent of either the presence of a pair of XY or XX sex chromosomes..." (Renzetti & Curran 2002, 41).

If paraphrasing (using an article from Reconstructing Gender as an example):
Gender can be understood as a process, a social institution and a stratification system (Lorber 2003).

If using an article from the reader:
It can be argued that there are at least five biological sexes (Fausto-Sterling 1993).

If referencing lecture/discussion in class:
Labels like "bitch" and "faggot" are used to enforce social norms about gender (class discussion, Jan. 30).

Then your bibliography/references would look like this:

References

Fausto-Sterling, Anne.  1993.  "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough."  Course reader.

Lorber, Judith.  2003.  "The Social Construction of Gender."  In Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology, 3rd edition, E. Disch, ed. New York: McGraw Hill.

Renzetti, Claire M. and Daniel J. Curran.  2002.  Women, Men, and Society, 5th Edition.  Boston: Allyn & Bacon.