CULT3018: Gender, Crime and Violence
Assignment 1: Reflective essay

Team/Individual	Individual
Task type	Essay
Length	1000 words (+/- 10%)
Weighting	30%
Due Date	11.59pm AEST Monday 8 June 2026 (Week 4)

After you have read this information, head over to the Assignment 1 Q&A discussion board to ask any questions and see what your peers are saying about this assignment.

Assignment overview

To pass this subject of study, you must achieve an aggregated grade of at least 50%. Although this assignment is not a mandatory submission, completing this assignment will give you the best chance of achieving this minimum requirement.

For this assignment, you will be writing a reflective essay on one of two supplied options. You will have to compare and contrast two different feminist theorisations in regard to your chosen issue. Your reflective essay will need to show how these different theories approach the issue and offer clear arguments of comparison supported by evidence and academic resources.

This assignment supports Subject Learning Outcomes 1 and 2.

Use of generative artificial intelligence

In this assessment task, you will not be able to meet the learning outcomes related to the development of writing skills by using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Working with another person or technology in order to gain an unfair advantage in assessment or improperly obtaining answers from a third party, including generative AI, to questions in an examination or other form of assessment may lead to sanctions under the Student Misconduct Rule (Western Sydney University, 2023). Use of generative AI tools may be detected. More information is available on the Library web page Turnitin's AI writing detector (Library Study Smart, 2023). 

If your studies have been adversely affected by circumstances beyond your control, you may request an extension using the following options.

Note: A request for a short extension must be made within two working days and a request for special consideration must be made within five working days. Supporting documentation for applications of less than three days is optional but may be requested later.

 

Assignment details

Select one of the following options:

Option 1: Sexual OR gender-based violence

Write a 1000-word reflective essay responding to the following prompts:

 1. How would you define sexual/gender-based violence? What does it mean in the context of your community? Your response should identify the context of your community (personal/social/professional etc.).

2. Which theory most aligns with this definition? Your explanation must use at least two theoretical concepts (from Module 1 or 2) and define and apply these.

3. Whose experience might be excluded by this definition?

4. What do you think are the key challenges to addressing this problem in your ‘community’?

Option 2: Masculinity and crime OR violence

Select a movie, TV series, or episode that depicts men engaged in crime OR violence. Provide an analysis of your issue as it is presented in your example. Write a 1000-word reflective essay responding to the following prompts:

 1. Provide a relevant summary of the film/series/episode/plot/character

2. How would you describe the depicted relationship between masculinity(ies) and crime/violence?

3. Which theory (from Module 1 or 2) most aligns with this description? Your explanation must use at least two theoretical concepts from the subject modules/readings and define and apply these.

4. To what extent do you think these representations relate to the lives of real boys and men?

Note: The key theories are covered in Module 2. These include:

Liberal feminism	Radical feminism
Marxist feminism	Intersectional feminism
Critical masculinities theory

Reference list

Your reference list should contain no fewer than six academic sources. Any other media sources are additional to this baseline.

Note: the reference list is not included in the word count.

Example resources and readings

Networked misogyny on TikTok (Banet-Weiser & Maddocks 2023).

Mainstreaming the blackpill: Understanding the incel community on TikTok (Solea & Sugiura 2023).

Personal problems and women's issues (Berridge 2011).

Sexual violence in serial form: Breaking Bad habits on TV (Joy 2019).

Television's 'new' feminism: Prime-time representations of women and victimization (Cuklanz & Moorti 2006).

Representing rape culture on teen television (Ryalls 2021).

'The butterfly effect': Sexual assault and the aftermath on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why (Cox 2023).

Private satisfactions and public disorder: 'Fight Club', patriarchy, and the politics of masculine violence (Giroux 2006).

The heroic monster: Dexter, masculinity, and violence (Arellano 2015).

The dead and the abhorred: Mindhunter and the persistence of mother-blame (Byers & Collins 2022).

Some knights are dark and full of terror: The queer monstrous feminine, masculinity, and violence in the Martinverse (Evans 2019).

Media spectacle and domestic terrorism: The case of the Batman/Joker cinema massacre (Kellner 2013).

A tale of two masculinities: Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips, and Joker’s double can(n)on (Kavka 2021).

Hegemonic masculinity in Game of Thrones (Kehoe 2021).

Crime and masculinity in popular culture (Tomsen & Hobbs 2023).

Assignment tip

View the marking guide under 'Assignment criteria', to see a detailed breakdown of how your work will be assessed. This is an excellent place to start your preparations for this assignment.

Refer back to the marking guide frequently to make sure you are meeting the requirements.

Supporting documents 

Explore the following resources before you begin this assignment. These resources will help you understand the style and purpose of reflective writing, as well as the relevance of critical thinking in reflections:

Purpose of reflective writing (PDF 31 KB).

Tone of reflective writing (PDF 58 KB).

Activities to aid reflection (PDF 93 KB).

Structure of reflective writing (PDF 166 KB).

Reflective thinking: Practice-Based Learning 1 (PDF 209 KB).

5.4a Critical thinking and reflective writing (Coursera n.d). 

How thinking works (TEDx Talks 2011).

Harvard WesternSydU referencing style guide (PDF 199 KB) (Western Sydney University Library 2019).

As you’re finalising your draft, don’t forget that the Assignment Feedback Tool is available 24/7 to help you refine your grammar, referencing, writing style, and more. For more details, see the Assignments and support page in your Welcome Module.

Submission details overview

This assignment will be submitted through Turnitin. The relevant submission point is on this page.

Please allow a 24-hour turnaround for an originality report to be generated.

Resubmissions after the due date without prior approval from your Subject Coordinator may not be marked.

Assignment support

In addition to your OLAs who provide discipline-specific content advice, consider using the Assignment Feedback Tool for a final review before you submit. The tool is available 24/7 to help you refine your grammar, referencing, writing style and more.

Assignment criteria

You will be assessed on the following criterion:

• Descriptive/Summarise.

• Theoretical Alignment.

• Theoretical Alignment.

• Academic Writing.

Select 'View rubric' for more detail about this assignment's marking criteria.

References

Arellano, L 2015, 'The Heroic Monster: Dexter, Masculinity, and Violence', Television & New Media, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 131–147, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1527476412450192>.

Banet-Weiser, S & Maddocks, S 2023, Networked misogyny on TikTok, in The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003200871-41/networked-misogyny-tiktok-sarah-banet-weiser-sophie-maddocks>.

Berridge, S 2011, 'Personal Problems and Women's Issues', Feminist Media Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 467–481, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2011.555967#d1e170>.

Byers, M & Collins, R 2022, 'The dead and the abhorred: Mindhunter and the persistence of mother-blame', Crime, Media, Culture, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 466–481, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17416590211031282>.

Cox, N 2023, '“The butterfly effect”: sexual assault and the aftermath on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why', Feminist Media Studies, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 4123–4137, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2022.2154376>.

Cuklanz, LM & Moorti, S 2006, 'Television's “New” Feminism: Prime-Time Representations of Women and Victimization', Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 302–321, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07393180600933121>.

Evans, T 2019, 'Some Knights are Dark and Full of Terror: The Queer Monstrous Feminine, Masculinity, and Violence in the Martinverse', Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 134–156, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20512856.2019.1679446>.

Giroux, HA 2006, 'Private Satisfactions and Public Disorder: “Fight Club”, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Masculine Violence', JSTOR, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/20866386?sid=primo&saml_data=eyJpbnN0aXR1dGlvbklkcyI6WyI0ODU5MThhZC05ZWJlLTRmOTMtOWRjNy02ZjU1NjAwZWU4ZTMiXSwic2FtbFRva2VuIjoiZGRkNmM0MTktMWQ4ZS00ZDM5LTlmNDItOGY0M2Y0MWFmMjc3In0&seq=1>.

Joy, S 2019, 'Sexual violence in serial form: Breaking Bad habits on TV', Feminist Media Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 118–129, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2017.1396484#abstract>.

Kavka, M 2021, 'A tale of two masculinities: Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips, and Joker’s double can(n)on', New Review of Film and Television Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 30–40, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17400309.2020.1861884>.

Kehoe, JA 2021, 'Hegemonic masculinity in Game of Thrones', in Daly, SE (ed.), Theories of Crime Through Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-54434-8_14>.

Kellner, D 2013, 'Media Spectacle and Domestic Terrorism: The Case of the Batman/Joker Cinema Massacre', Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 157–177, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714413.2013.799364>.

Ryalls, ED 2021, 'Representing rape culture on teen television', Popular Communication, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1–13, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15405702.2020.1868044>.

Solea, AI & Sugiura, L 2023, 'Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok', European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research, vol. 29, pp. 311–336, viewed 7 July 2025, <http://ezproxy.uws.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/mainstreaming-blackpill-understanding-incel/docview/2857171599/se-2?accountid=36155>.

Tomsen, S & Hobbs, D 2023, 'Crime and Masculinity in Popular Culture', in The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence, viewed 7 July 2025, <https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003372141-15/crime-masculinity-popular-culture-stephen-tomsen-dick-hobbs>.