Final Project due SUNDAY 9/5 by Noon (12 pm) Pacific Time

PLEASE READ THROUGH THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT CAREFULLY. IT CONTAINS DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO COMPLETE YOUR FINAL PROJECT.

COMM 108G: Politics of Bodies: Gender and Biomedicine

Final Project Prompt

Due 9/5 by noon PT

Length: 5-10 pages double spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font

As we have explored through COMM 108G, we are constantly receiving messages about gender and biomedicine from representations all around us. For your final project, it’s your turn to analyze a representation of your choice using tools from our class. My goal for you in this assignment is for you to dig deeper into something you’re curious about so you can better understand how gender and biomedicine operate in your life. 

For your final project proposal please find a representation of gender and biomedicine that you would like to analyze. The representation can be any form or genre of media, but the most important thing is that whatever you choose, YOU MUST TREAT IT AS A MEDIA ARTIFACT, NOT A SOURCE OF INFORMATION. This means analyzing the content of your representation critically to determine the messages it is meant to send to viewers or readers.

Your final project should be submitted as your answers to a series of questions, not as an essay.

At the top of the first page, please include this header:

Your Name

COMM 108G

Final Project

September 5, 2021

Your Title

Then write answers for the following prompts in order with their corresponding numbers.

1. A link to or a copy of the representation you are analyzing

2. A detailed description of the representation. This should be at least a paragraph where you describe your representation empirically for its content and context.

1. 1. If your representation is a written text (e.g. news media article, research article, op-ed, blog post, textbook page, etc.): where is your representation published/how would a reader access it? Who is the author (name and background)? How long is it? What kind of writing is it? What are the most significant passages or phrases (the ones you plan to analyze)? What images are present, if any? In general, remember to describe this as a piece of media, not summarize what it says. At most, you can include the main argument of the piece.
   2. If your representation is a video (e.g. drug ad, PSA, informational video, personal testimony, etc.): what kind of video is it? What style does it use (e.g. illustrated, video footage of people or celebrities, combination, etc.)? Who is the author? How long is it? If applicable, what is the plot? Who do you see in the video, and is there anyone notably missing? What can you hear? What significant visuals are present? Feel free to pick specific scenes, frames, or moments from the video to describe in greater detail so they are easier to analyze.
   3. If your representation is a visual or combined text and visual (e.g. meme, comic, website page, textbook illustration, etc.): what is the genre and format of what you’re looking at (e.g. single page ad, 4 panel meme, 8 panel comic)? Where did you access it and where could a viewer find it? What people, animals, objects, and/or other illustrations are present? What colors do you see? What are the relative sizes of the contents, and which are the most important? What words and present, and what are their size and font?

This paragraph should contain a description of all the important details of your representation that will become the basis for your analysis.

3. A paragraph describing why you are interested in this representation and/or how it relates to your life (feel free to use the paragraph you submitted in your proposal).

4. Select and define 1-2 course tools or concepts to analyze your representation (can be what you included in your proposal). Include a definition from a lecture, reading, or other provided source and cite it either using (author page #), (lecturer name, lecture title, slide number or recording timestamp), or (web URL). After you have defined your concept/tool, explain what it is generally used to analyze and why it is useful and appropriate for your analysis.

5. In 1-2 paragraphs, perform a feminist Communication analysis of your representation using the tool/concept you defined in prompt 4. Do not assume I will know what you are talking about – write like this is for someone in the Communication department who has not taken this course. To perform your analysis, apply your concept or tool to the significant elements of the representation that you described in prompt 2. Your analysis should look like analyses you have read in the assigned course readings, like I have performed during lectures, and like you have performed in your previous assignments. The goal of this section is to explain HOW your representation is conveying its meaning. What parts are the most significant and why? What conventions are present? What would a viewer have to know or understand in order to make sense of the representation? Who is the representation meant for, and what is it meant to tell them? This section should end with a summary of the main message of the representation and where that message can be found within the representation/what elements produce it.

6. In 1-2 paragraphs, assess the impact and consequences of your representation. Who is this representation for, and is it trying to inform them, mislead them, or something else? What does this representation say about sex, gender, and biomedicine? Is what it says accurate or inaccurate based on what we have covered in the course? Does it support, challenge, or comment on the gender binary, gender stereotypes, or gender roles? Does it naturalize a sex binary or invoke the social construction of sex? Who does it focus on and who is omitted or erased in the representation? How is power operating within it? Does it help advance gender equality or women’s and trans people’s rights, does it hurt them, or something else? How is biomedical authority being used? Would a lay viewer be able to analyze the representation? You do not need to answer all of these questions, but they are meant to guide you in your discussion of why this representation matters, and what you think it is doing or could do to the people who encounter it. I have modeled this kind of thinking in every lecture for this course.

7. In 1-3 sentences, summarize what your representation is, what significant meaning-making elements it contains, how you analyzed those elements, and your conclusions about the consequences of the representation for our biomedical understandings of sex and gender.

8. In 1-3 sentences each, answer the following reflection questions about your experience in COMM 108G. You answers should include specific aspects of the course, not generalities:

1. What were the most significant things you learned in this course and why were they significant to you? Consider, for example, if you have changed your thinking about the topics we covered, or you learned about something you had not previously thought about.
2. Did taking this course affect other aspects of your life? Why or why not?
3. What were your favorite readings/assignments? Least favorite?
4. Is there anything you wish you had done differently this summer session?
5. What advice would you give to students who take this course in the future?
6. (optional) What feedback do you have for me about the course?

9. Include a works cited page that cites the readings and/or lectures you referenced in your answers above. You can use MLA or APA format for the citations. You do not need to cite your representation. Lectures should be cited using the following format: Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Slide number(s).

• Example: Fox, R. (2021, August 4). Gendered Language in Medical Knowledge [PowerPoint slides]. Slides 7, 13-14.

10. Please include one of the following regarding whether you want me to provide written comments on your final in addition to your letter grade:

• No, I do not need extended feedback on my final project
• Yes, I would like to receive extended feedback on my final project. I understand that these comments may come after I have already received my final grade.

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