Overview
SOC 180A: Sexuality & Sexual Identities
Professor Kara Placek - UCLA - Fall 2025
WORKBOOK #1
Name & Student ID # : __________________________________________________________
Workbooks provide opportunities to relate course materials to media, experiences, and supplemental resources in a personal/reflective manner. Full credit responses meet length requirements, adhere to format/citation specifications outlined below, and sufficiently address every component of each prompt - while citing at least two course concepts. Hence each prompt must include two citations, with 8 in total required. A typical paragraph includes 4-8 sentences. Length specifications indicate the minimum expected, but you will not be marked down for exceeding limits. Insights should be original, well thought out, and supported by materials.
Responses can either be elaborated on in a short essay that is 4 paragraphs long – or as short answers which address each prompt’s components (bullet points format) within the same approximate length. Overall, Workbook #1 should come out to a total of 4 prompt responses,
16 paragraphs, and 8 cited concepts. No cover page or References section are necessary. When citing materials, only note the author(s), publication year, and relevant page numbers or resource details in the parentheses (i.e. Grazian, 2009, p.222). To cite any concept from a lecture, guide, or slides – just include my surname, the course number, and resource or date. Examples: Plaček, 2025 SOC 180A Recorded Lecture on Hookup Culture; Plaček, 2025 SOC 180A Lecture 9-30-2025, or Plaček, 2025 SOC 180A Week #2 Guide). You can apply any relevant concept from any week's materials but do not reuse the same concepts. For example, do not cite “grounded theory" more than once. You may cite two different concepts from the same resource - hence, you can define/apply "emerging adulthood” and "principle of least interest" as two concepts for prompt #3 even though both are drawn from the same resource (Ansari & Klinenberg, 2015). No credit will be awarded for any portion that appears to be AI generated, plagiarized, your own work submitted to another class, or insights we already covered in this class. If there’s any prompt that you’re uncomfortable with, discuss alternative options with me at least one week before the deadline.
You may type responses directly in this file or just type replies onto a single-spaced standard and font size on numbered pages with 1-inch margins. It should note your full name and ID number at the top, followed by your responses to each prompt. Make sure to follow these general directions and that components/rubrics for each prompt are removed. Upload as a doc or pdf file to the allotted space in the “Assignments” tab of Canvas by Tuesday 11/4 @ 11:59pm.
TOTAL POSSIBLE = 25 points
-0.75 points will be deducted for each missing or incorrectly applied citation;
-6 if there are no course materials properly cited in all 4 prompts (8 total are required)
-10% off any prompt with lengthy quotes, titles listed in responses, or redundant content
-3 points from overall score for not adhering to format
(standard font and font size, numbered pages, single spaced, 1-inch margins)
Unless there are documented/exigent circumstances, 3% (-0.75) will be subtracted from the overall score for each day it’s late. 30% (-7.5 pts) will be deducted if 10+ days past due
PROMPT #1 – SEX EDUCATION (+6 points)
(#1) After reflecting on Garcia’s (2009) study and Oliver’s episode (2015), write how these materials compare to and differ from your own experiences with sex ed. Then outline 3 recommendations for how sex ed should be ideally designed, and why. Assume this program will be in a jurisdiction that already requires mandatory, comprehensive, and medically accurate curriculum (so don’t suggest those). Your 3 proposals must go beyond surface level suggestions by offering details on how sex ed will be taught in the ways you propose, and why each recommendation is useful. For example, do not just state that sex ed would be “intersectional” – if this is the kind of curricula that you encourage, then specify what this means, how it would be accomplished and its benefits.
- Similarities between aspects depicted in Oliver’s episode and your experiences with sex ed
- Differences between aspects depicted in Oliver’s episode and your experiences with sex ed
- Detailed recommendation #1 for sex ed curriculum AND why this would be important/useful
- Detailed recommendation #2 for sex ed curriculum AND why this would be important/useful
- Detailed recommendation #3 for sex ed curriculum AND why this would be important/useful
…up to 6 points (+0.75 similarities to your sex ed; +0.75 differences from your sex ed; +1 x 3 recommendations for how to design curriculum; +0.5 x 3 why each recommendation is useful)
PROMPT #2 – HOOKUP CULTURE & DATING (+7 points)
(#2) Watch a film or a TV episode that features depictions of contemporary hookup culture or dating among individuals whose experiences are shaped by marginalized positionalities. Film examples include You People, Entergalactic, Family Affair, or Fire Island. Relevant episodes can be found in shows like Euphoria, Adults, Insecure, New Girl, Happy Endings, Mindy Project, Pen15, Never Have I Ever, Overcompensating, Jane the Virgin, Sex Ed, Gossip Girl, or Too Much. Do not analyze materials that we already cover in class – such as How I Met Your Mother or Sex Lives of College Girls. Then elaborate on these components:
- How does this depiction portray aspects of dating, hookup culture, and/or girl hunts?
- What norms/expectations does this portrayal reinforce about dating or hook ups?
- Present critical analyses of how one character’s positionalities (i.e. religion, age, class, sexuality, race/ethnicity, gender, location) influence their experiences in hookup culture/dating
- Present critical analyses of how another character’s positionalities (i.e. religion, age, class, sexuality, race/ethnicity, gender, location) influence their experiences in hookup culture/dating
- What do these intersectionalities/positionalities convey about these characters’ experiences and/or what implications they have for each of their interactions/outcomes in hookups/dating?
…up to +7 points (+1 portrayals of dating, hookup culture and/or girl hunts; +1 reinforced norms/expectations; +2 x 2 per each character’s intersectional analyses; /+1 how these positionalities differences influence their experiences and/or some implications)
PROMPT #3 – RELATIONSHIPS (+6 points)
(#3) Share what you’ve learned from Modern Romance with a consenting friend or family member who is 10+ years older than you. Ask them to describe their experiences with related topics like relationship types (i.e. companionate, soulmate, financial), dating, selecting partners, marriage, parenting, or narratives about love. How do they feel about today’s dating contexts, technologies, and norms? Please also protect the anonymity of anyone mentioned by avoiding identifiers and using pseudonyms (not their real names).
- Describe some of your interviewee’s experiences with how they would meet potential love interests and what the norms or practices were like with dating
- What kinds of factors influenced your interviewee’s decisions about who they wanted for a partner – or what traits did they look for in a partner?
- What are some of your interviewee’s understandings about love, marriage, and/or parenthood? Do they regard partnership as more about companionship, soulmates, financial stability, creating a family etc.?
- What does your interviewee think of today’s technologies & contexts related to dating?
…up to 6 points (+1.5 dating experiences; +1.5 factors/traits regarding partner selection;
+1.5 understandings about love, marriage or parenthood; +1.5 views on current techs & contexts)
PROMPT #4 – TECHNOLOGY (+6 points)
(#4) Reflect on a film, documentary, or TV episode about some kind of tech mediated relationship. Do not analyze the “Striking Vipers” episode of Black Mirror – but you may comment on other relevant episodes from that show (like “Be Right Back” or “San Junipero”). More examples are: Her, You’ve Got Mail, I’m Your Man, Lars and the Real Girl, We Met in Virtual Reality, World of Warcraft: Looking for Group, Second Skin, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Chasing-Chasing Amy, Don’t F**k With Cats, or Love Me Love My Doll.Another option is You and I, and AI:www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0dJN89fObILinks to an external site.
- How were tech-mediated relationships depicted overall?
- How were tech-mediated relationships portrayed in comparison to “in real life”(IRL)/other types of relationships – like those among one’s family members, friends, peers, coworkers etc.?
- Describe at least 3 unique benefits that tech-mediated relationships offered
- Describe at least 3 unique limitations/problems that were experienced within tech-mediated relationships
- Describe at least 2 ways this portrayal supported some course materials and 2 ways it contradicted them
up to 6 points (+1 overall depiction of tech mediated relationships; +1 how these compared to portrayals of IRL/in-person relationships; +0.33 x 3 benefits; +0.33 x 3 problems/limitations; +0.5 x 2 ways that it supports course materials; +0.5 x 2 ways that it contradicts course materials)
WORKBOOK #1 RUBRIC
PROMPT #1 (TOTAL + /6)
/+0.75 similarities to your experiences with sex ed
/+0.75 differences from your experiences with sex ed
/+1 x 3 recommendations for ideal curriculum
/+0.5 x 3 why each recommendation is useful
PROMPT #2 (TOTAL /+7)
/+1 portrayals of dating, hookup culture and/or girl hunts
/+1 norms/expectations reinforced
/+2 x 2 per each character’s intersectional analyses
/+1 what their positionalities differences convey and/or some implications, outcomes etc.
PROMPT #3 (TOTAL /+6)
/+1.5 interviewee’s experiences with meeting people & dating
/+1.5 factors or traits pertaining to partner selection
/+1.5 understandings/narratives about love, marriage and/or parenthood
/+1.5 views on current technologies & contexts
PROMPT #4 (TOTAL /+6)
/+1 overall depiction of tech-mediated relationships
/+1 how these portrayals compared with to IRL/in-person relationships
/+0.33 x 3 advantages of tech-mediated relationships
/+0.33 x 3 problems/limitations of tech-mediated relationships
/+0.5 x 2 ways this portrayal is consistent with/supports course materials /+0.5 x 2 ways this portrayal contradicts or differs from some course materials
____citation penalties (-0.75 for each missing or incorrect citation; -6 if none; 8 total required)
____late penalties (-0.75 per day late; or -7.5 for 10+ days late)
_____ formatting penalties (-3)
_____-10% from any prompt with lengthy quotes, titles listed in responses, or redundant content