CHOOSE ONE of the topics below to research and write an essay on your findings. If there is no gender analysis, your paper is incomplete, and your grade will reflect this. Within your essay, please mention if male bodies have been treated in similar ways. If so, in which countries and centuries? If not, why not? For each choice, please also consider the following: Do you think things should change for society to evolve in a positive way? How do you think things could possibly change in the future? Be sure to incorporate at least three scholarly sources into your essay.
1. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION – What is female genital mutilation? Where is it practiced and by whom? How prevalent is this practice, and what is its function? What is its impact on women’s health?
2. CORSETING – What was the purpose of corseting? Where, when, and by whom was it practiced? What was its impact on women’s health? When did women stop corseting themselves, and why? What are the implications for why female clothing is so restrictive and non-utilitarian?
3. FOOTBINDING – What was footbinding, and what was its function? Where was it practiced and by whom? What was its impact on women’s health?
4. CHLOROSIS – What was chlorosis and why did it affect the population of women that it did? Compare and contrast chlorosis to the eating disorders of our own era.
