Imagine a world where you could gather some of the most brilliant minds from history to discuss a gender-related topic of your choice. What would they say? How would their perspectives challenge or inform our own?
Your panelists should be diverse. The only requirement is that they have something important to say about gender. It is also a chance to share your knowledge with others and to spark a conversation about important gender-related issues. Be creative and think outside the box when choosing your panelists, quotes, and questions.
Your project should be between 6-8 pages of content, meaning not including your title and reference pages. Use APA Style citations, headings, and subheadings. 12-inch font. Double and/or single spacing where appropriate.
Purpose: This activity assesses your comprehension of course materials and affords you the opportunity to create a thought-provoking and engaging discussion about gender.
Guidelines: Your task is to set up a panel discussion group among 5-panel members whom you will gather from the past and present, across space and time.
Step 1: Decide on a specific topic for the panel discussion but keep your topic general enough for all panel members to comment on it.
Example topic: Gender Identity and Expression
Step 2: Identify two or three subtopics, as your panelists will have diverse backgrounds and areas of specialization or interests.
Example subtopics: Gender Identity Formation and Social Consequences for Non-conformity
Step 3: Identify panelists. Panelists should be diverse (age, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) and may represent any historical period, culture, or place. All panelists should include individuals who have contributed to ideas about gender that are relevant to PSYC 338 course objectives/outcomes:
a. culture and history: cultural and historical influences on conceptions of gender and other forms of diversity.
b. gender differences: research findings on gender differences and similarities in aggression, achievement, and communication.
c. relationships: gender issues in friendships and romantic relationships.
d. gender expectations: the impact of gender, gender role expectations, and gender stereotypes on work roles and physical and mental health.
Your panel should include individuals from a variety of backgrounds, professions, and specializations such as:
· Historians
· Artists
· Psychologists
· Entertainment
· Religion
· Medical Professionals
· Politicians
· Literature/Writers
· Civil Rights and/or Human Rights
· Journalism
· Researchers
· Education
· Sports
· Military
· Influencers
*You can select individuals from professions or specializations other than those suggested above.
Example Panel: Sandra Bem, Milton Diamond, Oscar Wilde, Queen Elizabeth I, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Step 4: Use the heading: Introduction. Under the heading write an introduction that introduces your topic, sub-topics, and why the topic(s) are important. Tip: Imagine that you are responsible for introducing the program. Think about what you would say to an audience who is excited and interested in hearing more about the topic from your panelists. (1-2 paragraphs; ½-1 page).
Example Introduction:
Throughout history, considerable research, and discussion about what it means to be a man or a woman. Indeed, gender roles—those expectations which prescribe traits or behaviors to individuals based on whether they are male or female—serve as guidelines for people to understand and fit into their place in society. However, there is less research and discussion about those who will not or cannot abide by such expectations.
Examination of the panelists’ diverse legacies in law, medicine, art, and politics reveals that gender roles are a series of social constructions which vary by culture and era and are not inborn traits. Significantly, the results of an individual’s deviation from socially constructed gender boundaries vary depending on one’s circumstances…
Step 5: Use the heading: Panelist Introductions. Under the heading write a brief statement that lets the audience know that you are going to begin the panel discussion by introducing each participant. Follow your statement with an organized list of the panelists and their “bios.”
Example Format: This section of the paper should be 2-3 pages.
Example:
Today’s discussion will focus on the development of gender, as part of one’s identity, as well as what typically happens when a person’s experience of gender or other ambitions do not match up to the expectations of their society. I will introduce each esteemed panelist and begin the conversation after the introductions.
Panelist Information: For each of the 5 panelists, you will include
1. the panelist’s full name, important biographical information (e.g., date of birth, age, where they were born, etc.), a brief description of their professional credentials, accomplishments, etc.
2. a quote from a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal article(s) or other authoritative, credible source(s) that represents the panelists’ position on the topic(s) that you selected along with an APA Style citation. You will also briefly explain what the quote means in your own words. (This section can be double or single spaced)
Example:
Sandra Bem
Sandra Bem is an American psychologist best known for developing a sex-role inventory to illustrate the cultural influence on definitions of gendered behaviors and traits (Davis, 2017). She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 1965 from the University of Michigan and has been a faculty member at Carnegie-Mellon University, Stanford University, and Cornell University. According to Bem (1981):
Adults in the child’s world rarely notice or remark upon how strong a little girl is becoming or how nurturant a little boy is becoming, despite their readiness to note precisely these attributes in the “appropriate” sex. The child learns to apply this same schematic selectivity to the self […]. Thus, do self-concepts become sex-typed, and thus do the two sexes become, in their own eyes, not only different in degree but different in kind? (p. 335)
In other words, Bem’s (1981) stance appears to be that the culturally defined biases of adults are reproduced in the development of their children as they, either consciously or unconsciously, tend to encourage gendered traits and behaviors based on the sex of the children with whom they interact, leading to a belief that the genders are distinctly separate.
Next Panelist…etc.,
Step 6: Use the heading The Conversation. Create 2 questions about your topic that you will ask the panelists. For question #1 select 2 of the panelists and for question #2 select 3 panelists. The questions should relate to your sub-topics (e.g., gender identity formation and social consequences for non-conformity. See Step 2 of the instructions).
Imagine how your panelists would respond to the questions based on the quotes and biographical information that you included in their introductions ( Step 5). Also briefly discuss how their positions are similar and or dissimilar (synthesis). Include APA Citations for direct quotes and paraphrased information. (This section of the paper should be 2-3 pages)
Panel Question #1
Example:
This question is for Sandra Bem and Milton Diamond: What do you think parents today need to know about their child’s gender development?
Sandra Bem: I encourage parents and caretakers to allow children to develop their identities naturally, without imposing false binary systems onto them based on their physiological sex. (Bem, 1981), If possible, parents should adopt a gender-neutral approach to raising their children. (Student can elaborate on what gender-neutral parenting is by providing examples.)
Milton Diamond: Since 1965 I have said that one’s identity is the result of an interaction of biological and social forces […]. Indeed, politics and indoctrination do take their toll, as do strong pressures and forces of religion, parenting, and education. However, all these forces mesh with one’s internal drives, inclinations, and impulses to produce the person that emerges (Diamond, 2006, p. 596).
Question #1 Synthesis
Effectively, Diamond (2006) explains that identity develops as the result of a combination of inborn traits and external influences. Although parenting and peer pressure have their impacts, his view is that the natural predisposition will also influence the identity of an individual. Diamond’s theory on identity thus dovetails neatly with the ideas proposed by Bem; while no set of behaviors is inherently gendered, most societies teach children to assign values and gender associations to various traits and characteristics.
Panel Question #2 Example:
The next question is for Queen Elizabeth I, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Oscar Wilde: Y ou are all trailblazers. Please recall a time when you were acutely aware that your choices in life were perceived by others as gender non-conforming. How did you respond to criticism or lack of support?
Elizabeth I: It was 1588, I was unmarried, in a position of authority, and responsible for leading my army on the battlefield at Tilbury. I had no intentions of cowering and knew it was my duty to inspire. In my speech, I declared:
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England too and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm: to which rather than any dishonor shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Harvard Law School did not admit women until the Fall of 1950. I entered law school in 1956. There was a famous dinner held by the Dean of the Law School for all the women in the entering class—all nine of us, in a class of over 500—in which he asked each of us, in turn, to explain why we were at the Harvard Law School occupying a seat that could be held by a man (Rubio-Marin, 2017, p. 603). I did not let that deter me. I continued my studies and went on to have what some people would say is a nice career.
Oscar Wilde: I was a social rebel. Some said I was a traitor to my gender. I sought the company of women and was comfortable in their company. I attended appointments with their dressmakers and a variety of other activities (Stetz, 2001). I was unapologetic about my lifestyle, beliefs, and choices. For me, life and art are intertwined. My career as a writer is tied to my flamboyant personality and lifestyle. (BHT, 2023). Unfortunately, I paid a price for being true to myself–I was sentenced to two years of hard labor for “indecent” behavior.
Question #2 Synthesis
In her speech, Elizabeth I (1588) asserted that although she may be a woman—widely considered to be too delicate for battle—she nevertheless had the constitution necessary to fulfill the duties of a king—in other words, to do her job just as well as any man. Ruth Bader Ginsburg described how her experience as one of the first women admitted to Harvard law school was challenging and unwelcomed. Ginsburg and Elizabeth I are women who crossed the boundaries of gender to pursue success in male-dominated spaces, where they had to prove themselves and defend their right to fill those spaces, in ways that men were not expected to. Wilde was like Elizabeth I and Ginsburg in that he defied social conventions, occupied opposite-gender-dominated spaces, and flourished. He differed from them because he was a gay man during the Victorian era when homosexuality was a crime.
Step 7: Summary. Use the heading: Conclusion. Imagine yourself standing before your panel, bringing the panel discussion to a close with a summary statement. Tell your panel and audience the essence of what you have learned from the discussion. Discuss the similarities and differences among the members and recurring themes. Locate a peer-reviewed journal article that is relevant to the major themes brought up by the panelists. Integrate it in your final remarks and tell the panel and audience how the conversation relates to what you have learned in PSYC 338. (This section of the paper should be about 1 page.)
Step 8: APA Style Title Page-use a creative title that describes your project.
Step 9: APA Style Reference List of all the sources used in your project.
Use of ChatGPT/Generative AI
Generative AI programs like ChatGPT can produce content that, on the surface, might look “like” a good effort on this assignment. However, because this assignment requires you to engage in genuine legwork and demonstrate your ability to synthesize and apply your understanding of our course material, AI databanks do not have the insights necessary to provide the attention to nuance, critical thinking, and authenticity needed to do well on this assignment.
Regarding the quality of writing, AI is infamous for offering vague connections and overgeneralized commentary. This does not reach the level of specificity, creative/critical thinking, and genuineness we are looking for here. In other words, it does not produce good writing – using overly flowery, expansive, over-used language [i.e., “AI-tells”] so characteristic of its algorithm). So, in this instance, over-reliance on AI generative tools will not satisfy this assignment.
You could potentially use ChatGPT and other generative AI software to ask a pointed question (i.e., “What’s a synonym for ‘depression’?”), to generate ideas for topics, or to offer feedback on your finished product (thus practicing using AI for your process but not your product) – the method consistent with the UMGC policy on the matter. Your writing is your thinking and that’s what your instructor needs to see. Your writing must speak from the point of view of the scholar of psychology that you are and bring in points that authentically represent your critical thinking skills. In other words, the written, submitted text must be exclusively your own.
If you need help getting started with this assignment or have any questions, please reach out to your instructor in the Ask the Professor thread in class. This can provide you (and other students reading it!) the clarity you need to get around any obstacles you might encounter! Your performance on this assignment is not hugely contingent on how perfectly you write (notice grammar/mechanics aren’t weighed heavily), but rather on the depth of your exploration and the authentic effort you make and engaging in this learning moment.