Sexuality

Students have three choices for their final projects (choose one project below) on which you will base your final paper:

1. Create a sexuality family tree: Create a family tree going back to your grandparents. Trace what you know about how your family has experienced sexuality and relationships: marriages, divorces, affairs, sexual violence,
   domestic violence, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender roles, attitudes and beliefs toward sex including religious beliefs, and anything else you feel is relevant. Pay attention to strong patterns and overall themes you see in your family tree, and what you notice has directly and indirectly impacted your own experiences with sexuality.
2. Keep a sex diary: Keep a sex diary for one week, in which you keep a record for every time you think about sex and sexuality, and every time you engage in an
   act you consider sexual. Write down whatever those thoughts and experiences are and how you feel about them, questions you have about your experiences, etc. Pay attention to your internal conversations, your beliefs and attitudes, and the feelings that arise for you as you record your experiences.
3. Interview a close family member or friend: Choose someone close to you that you feel comfortable interviewing about their experiences with their sexuality. Ask questions like: Where did you learn about sex and sexuality? When did you know how you identified (in terms of sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)? What were some of the pivotal moments for you in defining your sense of sexuality?
   What do you wish you had been taught growing up about sex and sexuality? Pay attention to your personal reactions and take note of similarities and differences between your interviewee and yourself.

Note: I will not be reading any of these actual projects; they are your private conversations with yourself and others and I want to respect the highly personal nature of these projects. The final product that you submit, however, will be a 5-page paper that you write in response to the project of your choice.

Questions to address in your paper (you need not answer all, but please be sure to answer Questions 1 and 5):

1. What final project did you complete? What did you gain from doing your project?
2. From whom did you learn messages about sexuality in general and about your
   sexuality in particular? What were those messages? How have you carried those messages into adulthood? What values do you hold about sexuality?
3. Have you had any critical moments, experiences, or relationships that have made you question your values about sexuality? What were they and what were their impacts on you?
4. Can you identify larger systems that have impacted your experience and relationship with
   your body and with other people’s bodies?
5. What material from class (textbook, other readings, videos, conversations with classmates) prompted you to think about sexuality (yours, or in general) in a new way? Why? Has anything changed or solidified for you regarding how you think? about sex, sexuality, and/or relationships?

Criteria:

1. Integration of experience completing project choice with class material. It is not enough to simply talk about class material;
   you must demonstrate how the class material informed your experience with your final project.
2. No less than 4 ½ pages, no more than 5 ½ pages. The reference page does not count toward your page limit.
3. Double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font.
4. A minimum of 5 references to classroom materials (textbook, additional articles, videos, etc). The references do not need to be distinct- you may use one source
   for all your references (if, for instance, you find it most useful to only reference
   the textbook). This is the critical analysis class so you use the links and article as a source of reference..
5. Cite appropriately using APA format, and include a reference page. Papers not adhering to proper citation format will be docked one point for each inappropriate citation or improperly formatted reference page. (Access APA formatting help at OWL Purdue:
   https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/).

Please note that you are not required to include a title page, abstract, or running headers; the citations and reference page formatted in APA is all that is required.