Ms. Sullivan
Senior Thesis Outline
23 March 2014
I. Introduction: Get your readers attention and explain why this is important.
a. Although many groups and individuals believe that there are natural
biological differences that create mental, behavioral, and emotional
differences between men and women, gender and its associated
stereotypes are societal constructs and should not be conflated with a
person’s “clinical sex” because allowing gender norms to appear
natural is damaging to many men and women as people will have
fewer opportunities to explore their identities and grow.
i. Main Point One (Context)
ii. Main Point Two (Needs/Harms)
iii. Main Point three (Needs/Harms)
iv. Main Point Four (Satisfaction)
II. Context of My Topic (history, background, definitions, etc.)
a. A person’s biological sex is the body that person is born with while
gender is the values and attributes society ascribes to that body.
(Definition of gender versus sex)
i. Often these attributes are stereotyped and are normalized as
when people begin to consider them naturally occurring.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
2. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
b. Gender as a term not synonymous with sex was only recently
developed; gender as a construct has only been recently critically
recognized. (Historical development of the idea of gender)
i. Men have historically controlled wealth and power, therefore
it has been difficult to critique or resist patriarchy.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
c. Patriarchy is the idea that men are in power because they are
considered to have higher value and/or more to contribute to society.
(Definition of Patriarchy)
i. Patriarchy is based on a tenuous social construct, and
therefore must be recognized and combated in all its forms.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
d. Gender binaries are also a construct because lots of things exist
between two polar “opposites”
i. There is no such thing as “opposite” sexes—only different
sexes
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
ii. Therefore, the constructs of femininity and masculinity are
different, not opposites. They can therefore coexist within the
same human bean.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
III. Describe the problem in my topic; demonstrate a NEED for change (What are
the harms?)
a. Rigid binaries oppress men and women because they erase
individuality.
i. When society has definite expectations of people, it confines
people to those expectations or forces them to risk being
socially devalued.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
b. Women are expected to be domestic and subservient to men. This
has been historically true and can still be seen in the ways the
workplace is structured.
i. Women who break this social norm by working are often
devalued and considered less feminine.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
c. According to societal expectations, men must protect women because
they supposedly need protection; they are permitted to make
demands of women.
i. Often, men who are domestic are devalued by society and
considered less masculine.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
d. As masculinity and femininity become conflated with a person’s “sex,”
that person is forced to ascribe to a binary, limiting self-exploration
and individuality.
i. Media tends to reinforce gender binaries by reducing men and
women to their masculine or feminine stereotypes.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
e. When society confines men and women to a binary, people consider
the “opposite” binary as an “other” rather than as a relatable person.
i. This can decrease people’s ability to empathize with one
another as men begin to see women as “othered” objects and
vice versa.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
ii. As people lose the ability to empathize with one another,
sexual violence becomes more prominent.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
iii. Rape and other forms of sexual violence also become
normalized when men are confined to a stereotype of
masculinity that have “natural” sexual tendencies that must be
fulfilled regardless of the woman’s consent.
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
IV. Satisfaction: Present a practical and concise solution.
a. Point 1
i. Sub-point 1
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
b. Point 2
i. Sub-point 2
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
c. Point 3
i. Sub-point 3
1. Evidence: “quote” or paraphrase (author name pg #)
V. Conclusion
a. Visualization: Help your audience picture the results of the changes
you outlined in IV
i. Use one of the three methods from your Monroe’s
Motivational Sequence handout.
b. Call to Action: Request Immediate Action from your reader.
i. Let your reader know what to do and how to do it.
** Acknowledgments and Responses (counter-claims and responses) should be
dealt with as they appear in the paper. For this particular paper, I would deal
with counter claims in the very beginning (Context section) in order to use my
definitions of sex to deal with the counter claim that gender is biologically
different.