You have three choices for your final project (choose one project below) on which you
will base your final paper:
1. Create a sexual family tree: Create a family tree going back to your
grandparents. Trace what you know about how your family has experienced
sexuality and relationships: marriages, divorces, affairs, sexual violence,
domestic violence, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender roles, attitudes
and beliefs toward sex including religious beliefs, and anything else you feel
is relevant. Pay attention to strong patterns and overall themes you see in
your family tree, and what you notice has directly and indirectly impacted your
own experiences with sexuality.
2. Keep a sex diary: Keep a sex diary for one week, in which you keep a record
for every time you think about sex and sexuality, and every time you engage
in an act you consider sexual. Write down whatever those thoughts and
experiences are and how you feel about them, questions you have about your
experiences, etc. Pay attention to your internal conversations, your beliefs
and attitudes, and the feelings that arise for you as you record your
experiences.
3. Interview a close family member or friend: Choose someone close to you that
you feel comfortable interviewing about their experiences with their sexuality.
Ask questions like: Where did you learn about sex and sexuality? When did
you know how you identified (in terms of sexual orientation, gender identity,
etc.)? What were some of the pivotal moments for you in defining your sense
of sexuality? What do you wish you had been taught growing up about sex
and sexuality? Pay attention to your personal reactions and take note of
similarities and differences between your interviewee and yourself.
I will not be reading any of these actual projects; they are your private
conversations with yourself and others and I want to respect the highly personal
nature of these projects. The final product that you submit, however, will be a
5-page paper that you write in response to the project of your choice.
If you are interested in completing a project/paper of a different variety, I am open
to your creative thoughts! Please email me by Week 5 if you are interested in
completing a different kind of final project.
Questions to address in your paper (you need not answer all, but please be sure to
answer Questions 1 and 2):
1. What final project did you complete? What did you gain from doing your
project?
2. What material from class (textbook, other readings, videos, conversations
with classmates) prompted you to think about sexuality (yours, or in general)
in a new way? Why? Has anything changed or solidified for you regarding
how you think about sex, sexuality, and/or relationships?
3. From whom did you learn messages about sexuality in general and about
your sexuality in particular? What were those messages? How have you
carried those messages into adulthood? What values do you hold about
sexuality?
4. Have you had any critical moments, experiences, or relationships that have
made you question your values about sexuality? What were they and what
were their impacts on you?
5. Can you identify larger systems (media, school, religion, economic, political,
etc) that have impacted your experience and relationship with your body and
with other people’s bodies?
Criteria:
1. Integration of experience completing project choice with class material. It is
not enough to simply talk about class material; you must demonstrate how
the class material informed your experience with your final project.
2. No less than 4 ½ pages, no more than 5 ½ pages. The reference page does
not count toward your page limit.
3. Double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12 point Times New Roman font.
4. A minimum of 5 references to classroom materials (textbook, additional
articles, videos, etc). The references do not need to be distinct- you may use
one source for all of your references (if, for instance, you find it most useful to
only reference the textbook).
5. Cite appropriately using APA format, and include a reference page. (Access
APA formatting help at OWL Purdue:
6. Links to an external site.
7. ). Please note that you are not required to include a title page, abstract, or
running headers; the citations and reference page formatted in APA is all that
is required.
*Note: You MAY NOT simply copy and paste previously written discussion posts
into your final paper. Your final paper MUST be original writing.
Rubric:
Category Point
s
Appropriate length and formatting 5
Appropriately cited references and reference page 5
Grammar, spelling, and paper structure 15
Answers the questions fully, and integration of class material with final project
experience
25
