ASSIGNMENT ATTACHED
Personal Reflection GEND3010 Gender, Crime and Violence Deadline: September 5th, 2021 23.59 pm 1500 words (10% leeway) (35%) In this assessment task, students critically analyse a media article and link it to: 1. the theories and concepts learnt through the unit materials (lectures, readings and weekly discussions) 2. their feelings, beliefs, convictions, learning, knowledge, life discoveries, personal growth Your personal reflection should be framed around one of the topics covered in the first half of the semester. Each weekly topic covers a particular type of gendered crime: 1. Gendered State Crime 2. Gendered Crimmigration 3. Gendered Hate Crime 4. Gendered War Crime 5. Gendered Corporate Environmental Crime The Personal Reflection is an opportunity to explore and analyse a media article, while also thinking about one’s own belief system, reactions and feelings towards the topic and ideas discussed in the media article. This self-reflection represents an opportunity for students to re-think their positions towards the victims and perpetrators of the crimes listed above, in light of the ideas presented in one of the media articles, which you will find at the end of this document. Hence, this assessment expects students to re-consider their opinions, positionality, privileges, empathy, prejudice (or their absence). . Since this Personal Reflection is written in an academic context, we want you to analyse the media article you will discuss by relying on the ideas and notions explored in the readings and lectures. . This personal reflection assessment is an opportunity to reconsider the media article from an academic perspective informed by the contextual and theoretical information you have learnt in the unit. This reflective piece will allow you to use your analytical and critical skills in order to link the theories and ideas discussed in class to the media article. . You should not simply express your opinion or summarize the media article. You need to integrate the ideas and notions you have learnt in the analysis of the media source. Academic writing requires reasoned argument and reference to evidence. You need to explain your position and justify your points. . You need to justify your opinion. This means that you need to explain your position. You can support your response through: 1) Examples from your chosen media article and readings 2) Referring to specific events or statistics within the media article 3) Using specific quotes from your selected media article 4) Noting the intersections between your position, the content of the media source and the examples covered in the 2 readings. . Your personal reflection is a personal response made by you to your chosen media article. Therefore, your responses will be unique as they will be influenced by: 1) Your beliefs, values, opinions and experiences 2) Similarities or contrasts to your own life (i.e. experiences you can identify with) 3) Your emotional state as you read the article and think about the type of gendered crime on which you have decided to focus 4) Empathy (or its lack) with victims . You need to demonstrate that you have thought about the type of gendered crime, which you have selected, carefully and, from multiple perspectives. So you need to show the development of your thoughts. For example: “I used to believe that …. However, after thinking about the statistics provided in the media article, I now think that…/ I used to think that… however,…after considering the causes / effect of … my perception has shifted …. Once, it seemed obvious that … However, now I believe that …. Maybe …. is an assumption which relies on … I have relied on explanations from…. Yet I have discovered that… This has allowed me to understand that… Therefore, my opinion has changed (or my belief in… has been reinforced)… It may be more accurate to suggest… I have come to the conclusion that…I have learnt that…Rethinking this event has allowed me to notice… Re-evaluating what happened/this crime has enabled me to see…” Reflective writing requires a reflection on how you interacted with the media text and how you changed (or not) as a result. . The aim is for you to demonstrate your: · familiarity with the key concepts introduced so far; · ability to use academic concepts and related ideas from the unit material (readings, lectures) to interpret and analyse gendered crime · self-analytical skills and ability to apply academic concepts to your self-analysis · academic writing skills . Points to consider when analysing the media article you will choose: 1. What are the key notions and themes on which you want to focus in order to dissect your chosen media source? 2. Has your understanding of the topic changed (or has it been deepened) through the media article, readings and lecture materials? If so, how? You must use at least 2 readings from GEND3010. These can be required or recommended. Every documentary counts as 1 reading. You do not have to include documentaries. You can, if you think this will deepen your analysis. You must cite and reference all material you draw on. Even if you only refer to two readings, which is the minimum required, you still need to create a reference list. Please, correctly reference your media article as well. Formal requirements: - Choose a topic that has been covered between Week 2 and Week 6 - Choose a media article associated with that topic from the list provided in this document - Select academic reference material: you must use 2 readings from GEND310 (Week 2-Week 6). No extra research is needed for this task. However, you can do it, if you want to use additional sources. - You cannot use the same topic for your end of semester Research Essay. - Keep quotations to no more than 10% of your essay. All quotations must be placed between quotation marks. DO NOT USE ANY SENTENCES OR PHRASES OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT UNLESS THEY ARE CITED IN QUOTATION MARKS. Proper references are required and it is essential to cite accurate page numbers for direct quotes. Plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) is taken seriously at MQ University. - You can use any referencing style as long as you are consistent. - You do not need to cover all the aspects of the topic. You can narrow your focus according to what is required to make your analysis as rich and coherent as it can be in 1500 words. - Please, do not simply summarize the media article as this will result in a descriptive essay. Your essay must go beyond summarizing the main points of the media article. The body of your essay should reflect your analytical skills and your ability to synthesise information and ideas taken from the lectures, readings and tutorials. Tip: In this unit, it is a good idea to articulate your own views on the topic supported with arguments from the academic literature. At the same time, try to open up the question to bring as much intellectual richness and complexity to the topic as you can. By all means, use the first person “I” when expressing your position! Tip: Try to imagine what someone who believes the opposite of what you believe might argue in the face of what you want to say. This exercise (which you don’t have to spell out in the essay!) will force you to sharpen your own arguments and make your writing wiser and more reasonable. Tip: The assignment length is 1500 words (10% leeway accepted, although try and be concise, not waffly or repetitive). Effective expression and structure are highly valued. Note: Week 4 Gendered Hate Crimes has two case studies: a) Islamophobic attacks / b) the Cronulla riots. You do not need to focus on both case studies, if you choose this topic. You should focus on ONE media article only. Yet you can note the interconnections between Islamophobia and the Cronulla riots, if you want to. *If you require an extension, you will need to apply using the online Special Consideration system. . Below, you will find 6 media articles from which you can choose the one you like the most. Your choice should depend on: a. your interest in/passion for the topic you will select b. the depth of your understanding of the media article and the unit material related to that media source MEDIA ARTICLES Below you will find the topics that we covered from Week 2-Week 6 and their corresponding media articles. Please, choose one media article based on your favourate topic: Week 2 Topic: Gendered State Crimes Article title: “Gay, Bisexual and Trans Asylum Seekers are ‘Suffering’ on Manus.” By JESSE JONES — MAY 16, 2018 LGBTI asylum seekers on Manus Island are living in fear of revealing their sexuality or gender. The number of asylum seekers who are LGBTI is unknown because Papua New Guinea’s laws forbidding homosexuality force them into silence, according to journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani, writing in The Guardian. Previous estimates have suggested 30 to 40 gay and bisexual men may be among the asylum seekers. Boochani described the moment five years ago when a “serious, decisive, to the point and threatening” immigration officer read out a statement to the prison camp, warning that homosexuality was illegal. “Homosexuality is illegal in Papua New Guinea and considered as a crime,” the officer said. “If anyone in the immigration detention engages in this behaviour, he will be sentenced to 14 years in prison.” Later, a gay refugee known as Alex, banished by his family in Iran, stood in the same place to announce, “I am gay, and this is my sexual identity, I am gay and that’s why I left my country, I announce it loudly and clearly: I am gay.” Boochani called Alex’s public coming out “nothing short of a revolution” against an oppressive community and system. “His performance was undoubtedly inspired by the immigration performance, but this one was a revolt against law, against discrimination, against the system and the community, which considered him as ‘other’ and ‘different’,” he wrote. “Alex announced his sexual identity loudly in opposition to a system fundamentally designed to represent him and other refugees as devoid of human identity.” Alex was allegedly raped twice while on Manus Island, his complaints going “completely ignored” by officials. LGBTI asylum seekers on Manus Island are living in fear of revealing their sexuality or gender. His experiences and suffering led other gay asylum seekers to keep hiding their sexuality. “It got to the point that if they let others know about their sexual orientation, if they moved in line with Alex, they would face further isolation, targeting and social pressure,” Boochani wrote. “In the prison, intentionally designed to destroy the human identity of prisoners, where prisoners are nothing more than numbers living a mechanical existence, revealing that matter would cost them dearly, leading them to further