CULS30004 Essay 1 Questions
THE TASK:
● Choose one question from the list below.
● The main objective of the first essay is to engage with and demonstrate an understanding of material covered in weeks 1-5 of the subject.
● Your analysis should take the form. of a 1,000 (+/-10%) word essay, with a concise introduction including a thesis statement, body paragraphs, and brief conclusion. The word count includes all text from the body of the essay and does not include the bibliography or titles.
● You must consult and demonstrate the use of a minimum of 4 academic sources in addition to weekly set readings. Any material used from the “Additional Reading” lists does count towards these four sources.
● You can use any referencing system as long as you are consistent and use page numbers in your citations, unless you are referring to the text as a whole.
● For this essay, we ask that you do not choose a topic on which you have written your reflective journal entry.
→ Further information is on the assignment page on the LMS.
HOW TO APPROACH THE TASK:
→ We advise you to be as specific as you can in your focus:
→ We encourage you to narrow your focus by using one central example that illustrates or develops your argument.
→ Your example can be from any historical or national context. No matter what your example is, make sure it is briefly contextualised.
● For example, historical or contemporary events (e.g. periods in history, like the 19th century explosion of sexual sciences, Ancient Greece, 1980s or contemporary sex panics, etc.); artefacts of media or popular culture (e.g. films, TV shows, news reports, websites, technologies); everyday practices.
● If, for example, you choose to analyse a media or literary text, it’s advisable to undertake some extra research in the relevant techniques of interpretation for your chosen text (e.g. techniques of film, television, or social media analysis; close reading techniques from literary studies). This will be especially helpful if you have not previously studied these methods in other subjects.
● You can draw on examples from tutorials, readings, or lectures but are encouraged not to. Remember that “originality of ideas” is one of the assessment criteria.
● An example will also help you to develop a specific argument in your essay
(rather than one that is broad and general and difficult to elaborate or illustrate in such a small space). If you’re uncertain about the appropriateness of your choices, please consult your tutor.
● You do not HAVE to include an example for this essay (unless the question specifically asks for one); you are welcome to keep it entirely theoretical.
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
1. “Gender affects the operation of the sexual system, and the sexual system has had gender-specific manifestations. But although sex and gender are related, they are not the same thing, and they form. the basis of two distinct arenas of social practice” (Rubin, “Thinking Sex,” 178). What does Rubin mean by the “sexual system”? What are some of the ways in which gender affects the way sexuality is socially regulated?
2. Legal and institutional forms of sexual regulation like censorship and age-of-consent laws often shape sexual practices, sexual identities, and sexual knowledge. Choose one example of a legal or institutional regulation and analyse how it impacts the construction of sexuality.
3. In “Transient Feelings”, Janice Irvine argues for the importance of analysing collective emotion in a sex panic. As she notes, “In a sex panic, emotional publics temporarily engage in moral politics. Collective emotion, evoked discursively, can bring publics into being, organizing diffuse, sometimes inchoate beliefs and moralities into political action” (Irvine, “Transient Drawing on a specific example of a sex panic, analyse how collective emotions work to organise ideas about sexuality, resulting in specific forms of sexual regulation.
4. “The presumption of compulsory sexuality is also interlaced with ideas around heterosexuality, race, gender and ability” (Przybylo, “Introducing Asexuality,” 185).How does sexuality combine with other categories such as race, gender and ability in order to shape what is considered “normal”?
5. What are the implications of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity for understanding sexuality? Explain the key points of Butler’s theory in your response.
6. “Sexuality is not a somatic fact; it is a cultural effect. Sexuality, then, does have a history– though [...] not a very long one” (Halperin, “Is There a History of Sexuality?”, 416) What does Halperin mean? What are the implications of understanding sexuality historically? Identify and discuss some of these implications.