For your final assignment, select some cultural phenomenon, social institution, or other sort of symbolically important behavior or system. The topic you select should be something we have NOT talked about in class (at least, not extensively). Examples of appropriate topics could include video games or gaming, “STEM” professions like engineering or software programming, Elizabethan theater, any professional sport, the Boy and/or Girl Scouts of America, the armed forces, online dating services, country music, European colonialist imperialism, etc.
Whatever topic you choose, make an argument about how we can better understand the subject – how it is structured, how it works, how it is viewed – by applying some insights into masculinity that you’ve gained over the course of the semester. These need not be causal arguments, but must clearly explain how the lens of masculinity offers some insight that might not otherwise be clear. I expect you to do some amount of independent research regarding your topic. You should also try to invoke several perspectives from class and support your position with evidence from the course readings.
Papers should be between six and nine pages long, double-spaced, in size 12 Times New Roman font with 1-inch page margins and no additional space between paragraphs