Gender & Geography, Essay 2:

Fuck me, that was tough.

After some positive marks just after the Christmas break, my attention turned to the second essay in Gender & Geography. The questions this time around were much more difficult and specific, drawing synoptically across various different parts of the module.

My usual approach is choosing the question which interests me the most: in this case centred around sexuality in rural environments and how that has changed over time [I don’t like putting the full question online as it can mess up Turnitin]. In addition to being the area which interested me the most, it was also Jo’s speciality. I had to be water tight on rural geographies to make sure I got a good mark: as she has years of experience in the topic and all-but-leads the Google Scholar citation rankings.

I really struggled for motivation and attention during the writing process. Like really struggled. I had some changes to my medications which didn’t help either, but I seriously lacked drive for this essay in particular. I progressed my dissertation, read loads, went for loads of runs. Just for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to write it.

This obviously makes me [very] concerned for receiving the mark back. I feel it could be a bad one… I have applied for mitigation to have another look at it next week.

Regardless, the essay focused on both traditional and contemporary performances of sexuality in rural locations. I liked the largely theoretical nature of the topic, but I feel I could have included some more raw stats to back my points up. The literature focuses on the dominance of hegemonic masculinities in rural environments, highlighting experiences far removed from urban studies which I’m more familiar with.

As a white, middle-class, male researcher, I do feel it’s important to explore these gendered discussions; if anything to make myself more aware to everyday, individualised experiences. I think this essay will definitely help post-graduate application, as contrasting the rural and urban is always a useful point, especially with increased urban sprawl currently occurring across major cities.

Part of the reason why I applied for an extension is to make sure the work is as good as it can be. I may come back and edit this post after, but at the moment I feel I need to include something explicit on the intersectional approaches within rural gender studies. I read about it in a Brandth work I believe; going to have to dig that one out again.

Nevertheless, I’m glad to see the back of this essay. It is bittersweet, as it marks my last proper undergraduate essay [aside from dissertation and exams]. Just got to hope for a good mark.