These papers will give you the opportunity to apply our course content to the world around you. Papers should be 2-3 pages typed (1.5 pages is not 2 pages) in 12 pt, double-spaced Times New Roman font in MLA style. Works cited pages do not count toward the required page length.

Read over a sample paper as a model for your own work. Apply what you have learned about the social construction of gender to one specific toy product (don’t use the broad brand “Lego” or “Barbie” as a toy–choose a specific Lego set or a specific Barbie doll or the Barbie dream house) that is currently being sold in the United States (yes, that means you cannot do a toy from the 1950s). Introduce and describe the toy at the beginning of your paper. Be sure to identify to whom (gender, age, race, class) the toy is being marketed and think about how that affects your response to the prompt. Your paper should make an argument (in a one-sentence thesis), about what the toy teaches children about gender. Use quotes and examples (with proper citation) from Lorber, Richardson, Thorne, Bose and Whaley, Kessler or Stryker to support your argument about the product. Pro Tip: yes, there are gender neutral toys out there (like brown wooden blocks) but I do not think they would make an interesting topic for this paper.