Research paper topics: popular articles

Posted by on October 22, 2008 
Filed Under Writing Assignments | 16 Comments

As you know, the first submission of your research paper is due next Monday, October 27, via E-Learning. As a reminder, full details about the research paper assignment are available on the syllabus and here (PDF).

Some students have contacted me with confusion about acceptable topics for the research paper. As a reminder, the assignment requires you to base your research paper on an article about sexuality from the popular press. The full research paper guidelines include the list of acceptable popular articles. For your convenience, here it is again:

Possible popular articles for research paper topics (PDF)

Remember: If this list does not include an article on the topic you’d like to research and write about, you are welcome to select your own article from the popular press. However, you must work with your TA to determine if the topic and article is appropriate for the assignment. You may use an article of your choosing only if you receive written approval from your TA before the paper is due.

If you have any questions or comments, leave them here.

Arranged marriages in the United States

Posted by on October 15, 2008 
Filed Under In the news | 6 Comments

NPR: Arranged Marriage: Trapped Between Two CulturesIn lecture on Monday, Dr. Gravlee raised the question of whether romantic love is perceived as necessary for marriage cross-culturally. He showed data from a survey of college students in 11 countries, which showed large cultural differences on the matter. In Japan, only two percent of students reported that they would marry someone who had all the qualities they were looking for, even if they weren’t in love. In Pakistan, half of all students said they would marry someone under those circumstances.

Yesterday National Public Radio picked up on this theme in “Arranged Marriage: Trapped Between Two Cultures,” the first story in a three-part series. The report explores the generational and cross-cultural conflicts many young Muslims experience in the United States over love and marriage. “For many families like Sandhu’s,” Jamie Tarabay reports, “a marriage arranged by the parents is the best way they know to guarantee a solid future for their child.”

Have you or someone you know experienced the situation NPR describes? Whether you have or not, can you relate to the struggles of young Muslims in America over love and marriage? How does this story help you become aware of the things you take for granted about love and marriage in your life?

Sexy Song of the Week: Wicked Game

Posted by on October 13, 2008 
Filed Under Sexy Song of the Week | 1 Comment

Wicked GameThis week we feature “Wicked Game”, a 1989 song by Chris Isaak from his album Heart Shaped World. The song became a hit after it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart. The video won several MTV Video Music Awards and is often featured on VH1 countdowns of the sexiest songs and videos of all time. The video features former Victoria’s Secret model Helena Christensen.

While the song is primarily remembered for the famous black and white video featuring Christensen and Isaak, it is Isaak’s haunting melody and desperate lyrics that make the song unique. In the song Isaak expresses his struggle to resist the femme fatale, Christensen, and the effect this struggle has on his feelings about love.  In the song’s first verse Isaak introduces us to the root of his struggle revealing that, “I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you /And I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you”.  Later, in the chorus, we hear his increasing resistance to his would be lover’s allure, as he sings, “No, I don’t want to fall in love/with you”, while a voice (his instinct?) is saying, “This love is only gonna break your heart.”

As he attempts to resolve the contradiction between his need and his disdain for his lover, he simultaneously finds fault in her for “making” him fall in love even as she tells him she doesn’t feel the same way he does, singing,” What a wicked game you play/To make me feel this way /What a wicked thing to do/To let me dream of you /What a wicked thing to say /You never felt this way”. This classic portrayal of a mans encounter with a femme fatale ends with the chorus and Isaak’s final depressing conclusion that, “Nobody loves no one”.

How can such a sexy video portray such a seemingly depressing revelation? Is this sexy? As you listen to this and watch the video do you find any similarities to the Muddy Waters song and video that we featured? How are suggestive or symbolic tools used in the video (the crashing waves or the rising clouds, for example)?  Does Christensen seem interested in Isaak or is he chasing after her hopelessly?

Finally, is Isaak suggesting that love is a “wicked game” or that the actions of his lover are wicked? Can you relate to these emotions? How does Isaak’s portrayal of love relate to this week’s readings and lecture material about theories of love?

Sexy Song of the Week: I touch myself

Posted by on October 6, 2008 
Filed Under Sexy Song of the Week | 5 Comments

divinyls

In honor of your reading on solitary sexual practices, the sexy song of the week is “I Touch Myself.” This 1991 tune, turned perennial karaoke favorite, launched the Australian group, the DiVinyls, into one-hit-wonder fame. The video was very popular.

Masturbation goes by many descriptive, often funny, names. As discussed in Carroll Chapter 10 and in lecture, the practice is a safe release for (sexual) tension. However, many people choose not to experiment with masturbation for reasons such as religious or cultural prescriptions and personal guilt or embarrassment. This is especially the case with women. Your textbook reports that college men masturbate 3 times more than college females. Tell me: Is this a shocking find given a 95% success rate in women reaching orgasm via self-stimulation as opposed to a much lower chance of orgasm during intercourse?

This is your chance to comment on this sexy song, of course, but I am more curious about your thoughts on masturbation. Why is it still considered secret or taboo to some, especially for women? Is it a more accepted practice for men?

What in our cultural world informs our norms about masturbation? Why is it often used as a comical device in media as in American Pie? How is masturbation presented in church or in school? What myths do we have (like it will cause blindness)? How did your peers or parents talk about masturbation to you? Was your experience at all similar to this interesting lesson given by the ne’re-do-well uncle on Weeds involving a banana?

Finally, how important do you think masturbation is to a healthy sex life? Is there a place for masturbation in relationships or is it a secret to be kept from your partner?

Exam is today on E-Learning

Posted by on October 3, 2008 
Filed Under Exams | 21 Comments

The first exam will be available on E-Learning today from 6:00 a.m. till midnight. Please keep in mind that you must complete—not just start—the exam by midnight.

To access the exam, log on to the course’s E-Learning page and click on the “Assessments” link in the left column. Next, click on the link to Exam 1 to begin.

If you have any computer difficulties, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk (392-HELP) and leave a comment on the blog.

Good luck!

Missing masturbation slides

Posted by on October 1, 2008 
Filed Under Class discussion | Comments Off

If you were in class today, you know I wasn’t having a good technology day. Among other things, I was missing a batch of slides about masturbation. You can now see those slides here. The slides don’t capture everything I would have said in lecture, but you’ll get the idea.

ANT 2301 – Masturbation
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: masturbation sexuality)

Practice exam available on E-Learning

Posted by on October 1, 2008 
Filed Under Announcements, Exams | 2 Comments

As you know, the first exam of the semester will be administered this Friday, Oct. 3, on E-Learning. To avoid computer problems, please log on to E-Learning and take the practice exam, using the computer you plan to use for the real exam on Friday.

Once you log on to E-Learning, follow the link to ANT 2301, and then click on the “Assessments” tab. Then, you should see a link to the practice test. It should look something like this:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge


Please test your settings no later than Thursday to avoid problems during the exam. If you run into any technical glitches with the practice test, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk at 392-HELP.

Sex and politics: Where the candidates stand

Posted by on September 30, 2008 
Filed Under In the news | 5 Comments

Earlier this semester, Dr. Gravlee distinguished between fact and value and clarified that our job as social scientists is to examine the range of variation in human sexuality across time and space. It is up to you to incorporate knowledge about human sexuality into your own value system.

The upcoming presidential election is an opportunity for you to put this principle into practice. For most of you, it will be the very first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. Don’t miss the opportunity. To vote in Florida, you must be registered by next Monday, October 6. Register, read up on the issues, and get to the polls to vote.

This year, as in other recent elections, the candidates are divided on issues related to human sexuality. Here’s a breakdown of where the presidential and vice-presidential candidates stand on abortion, sexuality education, and civil rights related to gender and sexual orientation.

Guide to successful research papers

Posted by on September 25, 2008 
Filed Under Writing Assignments | 2 Comments

One of the keys to successful writing is to make slow and steady progress toward your goal. That means that the best research papers we read this semester are probably going to be the ones you are working on now. It takes time to do good library research, synthesize what you discover, and write about it well.

To help you get started (if you haven’t already), the TAs have assembled a guide to writing a successful research paper. You can download the guide in PDF format here.

This very helpful guide offers advice on library research, writing style, and citation practices. Paying attention to the advice in this guide is the surest way to make your TA happy—and you want your TA to be happy.

Do you know of other useful resources for improving your research, writing, and citation skills? Let us know by leaving a comment.

South Africa: How Safe is Traditional Circumcision?

Posted by on September 24, 2008 
Filed Under Class discussion | 5 Comments

maleIn South Africa, a debate about the practice of male circumcision provides a thought-provoking addendum to this week’s assigned reading. In certain groups, such as the Xhosa, South African men around 18 years of age enter into a month of seclusion with other members of their age group for an initiation consisting of traditional method circumcision and the imparting of teachings. Participation is prevalent among both rural and urban dwellers as this is the critical step in being considered a man and readied for marriage. Although defended for cultural significance, male circumcision practices are contested publicly for health concerns such as irreparable damage to the penis, infections leading to death, and the transmission of HIV via the cutting instrument.

Insightful participants’ points of view are on-line as are photos. One Xhosa man writes: “The option of staying uncircumcised is impractical if you live among Xhosas because they won’t take you seriously. Even in his book Long Walk To Freedom, Nelson Mandela comments on how a Xhosa man who has not been circumcised is a paradox, because he is still viewed as a boy.”

In recent articles, Lousie Vincent reports:

“Ritual male circumcision is among the most secretive and sacred of rites practiced by the Xhosa of South Africa. Recently, the alarming rate of death and injury among initiates has led to the spotlight of media attention and government regulation being focused on traditional circumcision. While many of the physical components of the ritual have been little altered by the centuries, its cultural and social meanings have not remained unchanged…”
Vincent, L. “‘Boys will be boys’: traditional Xhosa male circumcision, HIV and sexual socialisation in contemporary South Africa.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 10.5 (June 2008): 431-446.

“Since 1995 more than 6,000 boys have been admitted to Eastern Cape hospitals, more than 300 have died and 76 have had their genitalia amputated due to botched circumcisions. The state has responded by putting in place a variety of mechanisms to regulate the practice, most recently in the form of the 2005 Children’s Bill which gives male children the right to refuse circumcision and makes those who circumcise a child against his will guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment. Attempts by the state to regulate traditional practices have been met with outrage and resistance in some quarters.

Rituals are commonly identified as mechanisms contributing to social order in all societies, maintaining the organization of groups into hierarchies, specifying the performance of roles linked to factors such as age and gender, renewing group unity and a means for the transmission of values across generations. But in a society so deeply penetrated by colonialism, apartheid and industrialization, as South Africa is, what role do these rites play in the contemporary context?…”
Vincent, L. “Cutting Tradition: the Political Regulation of Traditional Circumcision Rites in South Africa’s Liberal Democratic Order.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.1 (Mar. 2008): 77-91.

Notably, other southern African tribes do not have a tradition of male circumcision at any time in the life cycle. And it is recently announced that male circumcision may reduce the transfer of HIV from women to men by 60%, an important finding for a global area with extremely high infection rates.
Discussion: Considering the particpants’ and scholar’s comments, what is your take on this issue? How should one (or the state) balance concerns for human welfare with respect for critical traditional practices? What if you were the parent of a boy of Xhosa heritage, how would you decide whether to go through with this ritual?

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