Order instructions

Please choose one of the following prompts for your essay:

1. Deborah Blum challenges the common cultural studies position that gender behavior is socially constructed.  Write an essay in which you defend, qualify, or refute Blum’s point of view.
2. Obtain a copy of a magazine that focuses on women’s sports or visit an online magazine (http://www.womenssportsinformation.com/womensmagazines.html for a list of possibilities).  Analyze the articles and the ads in the magazine, noting the model’s and athlete’s clothing, physical appearance, and speech patterns.  Using Mariah Burton Nelson’s argument as a critical framework, write an essay in which you analyze whether the magazine perpetuates traditional gender roles or presents sports as an avenue for female empowerment.
3. Study a men’s sports magazine (in print or online) and write an essay in which you explain the extent to which the magazine perpetuates the traditional attitude toward gender roles that Michael Messner claims sports encourage.
4. Write an essay in which you analyze the importance of race in formulating a sense of personal identity.  (Although race probably has played a part in your own understanding, this analysis should not be a personal essay focused on your experiences.)
5. The music essays we read in class focused on African-Americans and hip-hop, and the sports essays focused on gender issues.  Can these arguments be extended in other ways?  African Americans and other music genres? Other races and a music genre? Gender construction within a music genre? Race or class in a particular sport?  Write an essay in which you create an argument regarding one of these areas.  Be specific as to music genre or sport in order to narrow your topic.  (Don’t write about hip-hop/rap and African American identities, please.)
6. Write your own prompt for an argument about race, class, and/or gender issues in education.