The Gender Adventure Project is a combination of group and individual effort and constitutes 40% of your semester evaluation. The general goal is for you to become a gender expert in a particular area of research by (a) becoming familiar with a specific body of literature; by (b) conducting primary research; and (c) through first-hand experience. The project will culminate in a group presentation in which you will share your expertise with the class.
 

Before you begin the project, try this exercise: Pretend that you are a visitor from another planet and that you are assigned a project to de-code human culture, in part by looking at the everyday objects or habits that humans use. You have begun to suspect that there are (at least) two types of humans, but the messages are quite complex. Luckily, you have stumbled across the Sociology 545 readings, which give you hints about how these two types of humans operate and how you might begin to understand why they act as they do. (**Much of this excerpt is taken from Barrie Thorn's gender adventure exercise, U.C. Berkeley.)
 

First, you should form your research team; I suggest that five to six people is about right (Fill out the form and return to me by Wednesday, February 18). I've allotted time for eight group presentations. The research team should then meet to decide on a topic and design the research project. To guide you in this process, I am attaching a Gender Adventure Project Selection Guide with three columns. Column A lists examples of a gender domain, Column B offers possible data sources, and Column C is a selection of research methods. You will choose ONE item from Column A (gender domain), two to three sources from Column B, and at least two methods from Column C (note that a literature review is required). This should give your project some structure and help you focus on an issue narrow enough to make the project feasible for a semester's work.  You may form your own groups, but please honestly try to achieve diversity in your group composition.  Diversity may be defined in the form of gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, ableness, size/bearing, ideologies.
 

Example: Mary, Jane, and Tom form a team. They choose from each column as follows: A: shoes; B:stores, catalogs, movies; C: literature review, observation, content analysis.
 

Read some of the articles from our list of readings (see especially "If Men Could Menstruate" (Steinem), "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" (Kimmel), "Girls and Boys Together" (Thorne), "In Hiding and On Display" (Bordo), and "Becoming 100% Straight" (Kimmel). I also have some readings in my office that you might like to read: ("Doing Gender" by West and Zimmerman, "Bicycles" by Oddy, "The Suit" by Wright, "Cosmetics" by Kirkham and Weller, "Never Just Pictures" by Bordo, "Gender Quiz" by Pratt). Now, begin to think like a gender analyst. Get ready to look for cues that will help you find gender codes and ways to de-code their meanings and objectives.
 

Part 1: Group Project Proposal 50 Points (group grade)

Due Friday, February 27

The group submits a proposal (about three to four pages). The introduction describes the topic of interest (shoes), why it is of interest, how and why it might be defined as a gender domain. The introduction should grab the reader's attention, give a few pertinent facts/ideas/ statistics, and suggest its importance to understanding the social construction of gender. The background section should briefly summarize some relevant literature (at least three academic sources) which guide a gender analysis. The methodology section describes your data sources, research methods, and clearly lays out a plan of study, including a clear timeline and allocation of tasks for each team member. Finally, the proposed presentation section very briefly describes how you expect to present the findings to the class. A list of references is required; you may also include other items in appendices, such as a proposed survey instrument or list of criteria for observation or content analysis.
 

Part 2: Active Learning Experience 100 Points (individual grade)

Due Friday, March 12

Each team member participates in a hands-on, field type research such as observation, experiment, or interview. You can choose whether to do the activity together or individually, but each must write a one-page (typewritten, single-spaced) report on the outcome.
 

Example: Mary goes to shoe stores and observes purchasing habits of men and women customers, takes field notes, observes behavior and attitudes of both customers and clerks. Jane goes to two schools (high school, elementary), observes and counts shoes preferences of students and teachers. Tom goes to shoe stores (about three of different locations, types...) and asks to try on women's shoes; he records responses and attitudes of clerks and other customers. Each collects notes, quotes, tallies, drawings, photographs, brochures, etc etc...)
 
 

Part 3: Research Report 150 Points

Due Monday, May 3

Each individual submits a research report (10-12 pages plus appendices), for which you receive an individual grade. Please use subheadings; the report should be organized as follows: Introduction; Background and Review of Literature; Methodology; Results and Findings; Summary and Discussion. In addition, you should have an Abstract (approximately 200 words) which follows a title page, a List of References which follows the text and any Appendices (which should be lettered - Appendix A, Appendix B... - and referred to within the text). Number all pages beginning with the first page of the report. Your individual research report may overlap some with that of other members in your group, but you need to also find a way to demonstrate that it makes a unique contribution and that it contains your own writing and ideas.
 
 

Example: Mary, Jane, and Tom are all interested in how shoes are gendered objects, and how gendered objects often serve to disadvantage women, and thus both reflect and perpetuate sex inequality. Thus, each of them may have a similar introduction and may even share some of the review of literature. In addition, they may include a team-oriented methodology section, and may rely on results of research that they have conducted as a team or they may use one another's individual research results. However, the reports are also quite different. Mary's paper, entitled "Walking into the Economic and Political World of Gender," focuses on how women's and men's shoes reflect the relative position of each sex in the world of work and politics. Jane calls her paper "The Socialization of Feet" and talks about how children are socialized, not only into the kinds of shoes they wear, but other positions of differentiation, many of which become most evident in the teen years. Tom researches the history of shoes, collects lots of pictures, and demonstrates change over space and time with regard to shoes, their characterization, and people's response to them; his paper is entitled "The Culture of Feet."
 
 

Part 4: Presentation Group grade (100 points)

Presentations begin (as early as) April 19

The group organizes and presents a summary of the work and findings for the project.
 

Example: Mary, Jane, and Tom come into class wearing very interesting shoes (and a few assorted articles of clothing as well). They have background music playing (These Shoes Are Made for Walking). They had prepared a brief handout for the class, which lists their names, the title of their presentation ("Shoes are for Walking, Talking, and Gendering") and their main points of information, as well as a very clever quote about shoes. They gave a brief overview of their project, explaining their interest in the shoe as a gendered object. They have clips from shoe catalogs, a photograph (or video) of Tom trying on women's shoes, and some actual shoes (which they can project through the document camera), a very brief power point presentation demonstrating the three most important points they want to convey to the class, and a brief clip from a movie which illustrates one of the major points. They can't possibly cover all that they've learned or written about in their report, so they must coordinate carefully, selectively choosing to present the most interesting and informative parts of their project, while also making it connect in a collective way. They also met with Dr. Williams on at least one previous occasion, and they timed their presentation until it was the perfect, well-orchestrated 20-minute presentation that was worthy of demonstrating their hard work. They, of course, got the grade they earned and lived happily after class.
 
 

Column A                                                        Column B                                 Column C
Gender Domain                                               Data Sources                           Research Methods
(Choose one; this list                                 (Choose 2-3; this list                  (Choose min of 2)
  is not exhaustive)                                      is not exhaustive)                    (*required)