SP. 401 SAMPLE WORKING OUTLINE -- Essay 2 Ques. 2: Analysis of “Victor Smith” Working Thesis Statement: Victor Smith, currently 22 years old and a senior at MIT, envisions himself in the future as a pediatrician, husband and father living with his wife and (hopefully) three children in a major city on the East Coast. Influenced by parents playing traditional gender roles and a more egalitarian culture in high school and at MIT, Victor expresses significant conflict in his definition of manhood and his future vision of himself. 1. Future Vision and Background (1 pg.) V’s future vision of himself: Imagines himself as chief family breadwinner, but questions this role (why is he taking on so much stress? Why is he assuming that his female partner would not have the same aspirations as he?). Aspires to be a pediatrician but some male peers react to this as a “woman’s job” and encourage him to pursue a more “manly” specialty within medicine. 2. Analyzing V’s Conflict Influence of parents- traditional gender roles (Father worked 2 jobs—carpenter/electrician, mother worked in the home raising 4 children). Connection with readings: Lorber (idea of opposite gender roles, gender as “taken for granted”), Friedan –The idea of domesticity as women’s domain; parallel concept of a “masculine mystique” 3. Influence of other adults- teachers, personal physician (female pediatrician). Models of alternative masculinity: teacher who took a paternity leave, uncle who works as a day-care teacher. Strong female professional as a role model: his pediatrician. Connection with readings: Kimmel (on different models of masculinity) 4. Influence of MIT: overall culture of meritocracy, friends, professors, courses. Egalitarian models of gender: female peers and professors who have serious professional commitments as well as families. Current girlfriend does not want children because of her professional aspirations. Victor experiences conflict between his family as a role model and a more egalitarian lifestyle. Connections with readings: articles on women in science; reference to Stone-Blackwell marriage contract. 5. Conclusion: Summarize analysis of V’s life and future vision; implications of this individual case.MIT OpenCourseWarehttp://ocw.mit.edu SP.401 / WGS.401 Introduction to Women's and Gender StudiesFall 2010 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit:
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