The female sex doll allows for the projection of uninhibited sexual fantasy and is animated through that fantasy in the mind of her partner. In this way, she can be seen to function as a performative effigy of desire, maintaining heteronormative male sexuality by reflecting a patriarchal ideal of female physicality and objectification while simultaneously demanding a responsive performance of heterosexual masculinity. In the film Lars and the Real Girl, the relationship between the female sex doll and her male partner is shifted into the public sphere, and Lars projects a social, rather than sexual, identity onto Bianca, the sex doll object of his desire. The social identity constructed by Lars reflects his desire for a non-sexual, community-oriented, and ultimately subservient female partner, and the widespread acceptance of this model of femininity by the community is evidenced through the performative interactions that occur between Bianca and those around her. Because the sex doll exists in a potentially deviant category of sexual interaction, the community’s refusal to treat her as an object, but rather as a living subject, reflects the power of performance in the construction and maintenance of social identity. The very fact of Bianca’s object status allows her to take on complex sexual and social fantasy-roles, all of which prove to be problematic, but which ultimately allow for the maintenance of male sexual and social authority.

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This article explores the degree to which student collaborations on research and writing assignments can effectively realize learning outcomes. The assignment, in this case, encouraged students to contribute discrete parts of a research project in order to develop their complementary abilities: researching, consulting, drafting, and revising. The outcomes for students included appreciation for their individual expertise, and experience combining discrete contributions into a result that surpasses the sum of its parts. In the course, we gave students preliminary guidance for establishing team objectives and roles for the duration of this assignment and asked them to evaluate their learning experience at the end. In this paper, we analyze the students’ quantitative and qualitative feedback, and suggest ways to structure and supervise collaborative assignments so that students develop their expertise and complementary skills. We suggest that collaborative work such as this is essential for advanced undergraduates in the humanities, where collaborations are less common than in other disciplines. Moreover, we conclude that future humanities instructors should be open to the benefits of collaborative research and writing. This article will be of interest to instructors who wish to develop collaborative assignments that improve students’ disciplinary expertise, engagement with course materials, and outreach to audiences beyond the academy. Cet article explore la mesure dans laquelle le travail en collaboration des étudiants en matière de recherche et de rédaction de devoirs peut aboutir à des résultats d’apprentissage efficaces. Dans le cas présent, le devoir demandé devait encourager les étudiants à contribuer à des sections distinctes d’un projet de recherche afin de développer leurs compétences complémentaires : mener à bien la recherche, consulter, préparer un brouillon et réviser. Pour les étudiants, les résultats comprenaient l’appréciation de leur expertise individuelle et l’expérience d’incorporer des contributions distinctes à un résultat qui dépassait la somme de ses parties. Dans le cours, nous avons fourni aux étudiants une orientation préliminaire pour établir les objectifs et les rôles du groupe pour la durée de ce devoir et nous leur avons demandé à la fin d’évaluer leur expérience d’apprentissage. Dans cet article, nous analysons la rétroaction qualitative et quantitative des étudiants et suggérons des manières de structurer et de superviser les devoirs en collaboration afin de permettre aux étudiants de développer leur expertise et leurs compétences complémentaires. Nous suggérons que le travail en collaboration tel que celui présenté ici est essentiel pour les étudiants de niveau avancé au premier cycle en sciences humaines, où le travail en collaboration est moins commun que dans d’autres disciplines. De plus, nous concluons que les futurs instructeurs en sciences humaines devraient se montrer ouverts aux avantages de la recherche et de la rédaction en collaboration. Cet article intéressera les instructeurs qui désirent créer des devoirs en collaboration pour améliorer l’expertise disciplinaire des étudiants, leur intérêt dans la matière enseignée et les activités de rayonnement pour des auditoires au-delà de l’université.