Begin with an introduction of your topic and how it relates to broader conceptual issues. The introduction should include a clear, concise thesis statement that relates to your specific topic (thesis statement help is here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/1/). Your thesis statement should provide a sociologically-informed statement that explains how and/or why the topic you have chosen exists as it does in the world. For example, using the Obama topic introduced above, a viable thesis statement could read, “Much of the concern, anxiety, and hostility that has been expressed toward Barack Obama grows out of his status as an African- American man, a status that is marginalized vis-à-vis hegemonic masculinity, which is defined as White in the U.S. context.” Conclude the introduction with a brief map of your essay. 2) Your sociologically-informed analysis (5 pages) Discuss and analyze your topic in terms of the sociological concepts from class readings. In so doing, you should explain how a sociological understanding of masculinities helps us understand your topic. Specifically, address the following: How can we understand the topic you’ve chosen in terms of Schwalbe’s notion of “manhood acts?” Connell’s discussion of the social organization of masculinities and Messner’s “terrain of the politics of masculinities.” What aspects of Connell’s model of the relations of masculinities are in evidence with the topic you’ve chosen? For example, is the topic you’ve chosen an example of the gendered division of labor, power, or perhaps the structure of cathexis (or some combination of these dimensions)? How is your topic related to Connell’s (and Messner’s) assertion that men, in the aggregate, enjoy privilege over women in the aggregate? Are there any costs of masculinity associated with the topic you’ve selected? urces total)