Final paper #2

The final research paper or project represents the cumulative effort of your work this semester. It should be 1200 words, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font, standard 1 inch margins on all sides.  Page numbers should start on the second page and be located in the lower right hand corner of the paper.   This final paper will demonstrate your proficiency in applying concepts relevant to the theories we have been studying to a topic of your choice pertaining to sexual and gender identities.

Your project should reference a minimum of one (1) course readings in an application of one or more theoretical concepts we have explored this semester to a text, issue, or cultural production of your choice. You should include a minimum of two (2) outside sources on the topic, which can be original data collection or other sources you have found in your own research.   Therefore, the paper will have a total of three (3) sources.  Proper research methods using the FIU library website will be discussed in class.

Examples of possible concepts to consider/integrate: 

• the sex/gender binary
• birth of the “homosexual”
• discursive constructions of sexuality
• regulation, power, and knowledge
• diagnosis, confession, and “truth”
• medical science and sexuality – the construction of “normal”
• historical context and its role in definition
• passing and trans narratives
• intersectionality – race/class/gender/sexuality
• recognition/visibility of sexual and gender identities (bisexuality & the closet)
• queer politics and the policing of “deviant” bodies and sexualities
• pedophilia, psychosexual development, and polymorphous perversity
• stereotypes and cultural representation
• performativity, drag, and gender identity
• Stonewall and gay liberation
• queer and trans challenges to the legal system
• sodomy and marriage laws
• lesbian feminism, separatism, and trans identities
• materiality of the body
• cyberidentities (sexual and gender)
  

THE TOPIC SUGGESTION I CHOSE IS: lesbian feminism, separatism, and trans identities