Writing a thesis statement is not easy. There are things you need to remember and consider to be able to formulate an effective thesis statement. Let’s define first what a thesis statement is. It is a sentence that contains the main idea of a thesis and makes sure the ideas are within the paper. It is not just a topic. A thesis statement is a reflection of a writer’s judgment or opinion.
A strong thesis statement about sexual harassment gives direction to the paper, and it is where you base the entire paper. It should be something that will inform your readers of what you will include in the body of the paper. Everything you write in your essay should be able to explain, argue, or support your thesis.
You need proof not just a statement of fact to consider your thesis statement a strong one. Every claim you make should be supported with strong evidence that will catch the attention of your readers and encourage them to continue reading the paper.
Placing the thesis statement for sexual harassment at the end of your introduction is good practice. It is the best way to lead your readers where your essay is heading. If you position the thesis statement at the very start of your introduction, your reader may forget it and get confused about the main idea once he reaches the end of your introduction. Keep in mind, a good introduction anticipates and conceptualizes the thesis statement.
After your strong introduction that includes your thesis statement on sexual harassment, the next thing you need to do is to define what sexual harassment is. You can draw the definitions based on law and action. You can mention that the USA is the first country to define sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Sexual harassment in some industries is rampant; you can discuss this in your essay. You can state the reasons why such an act is committed. Try to elaborate it further by citing situations why sexual harassment is notorious in that industry. For instance, in the car sales and marketing industry lady sales agents need to wear daring clothes to attract their customers and encourage them to buy.
Another area where sexual harassment is rampant is in the subways where women get stalked, groped, touched or even exposed to someone’s genitalia. Your thesis can discuss sociocultural ideas that change women. Focusing on their bodies may cause an increase in the number of women experiencing harassment in the public domain.
One of the essential parts of the sexual harassment thesis could be the reasons why such an act is committed. It can also be your main topic as it is very broad. You can mention that some acts are obvious while others are subtle. Thru these people can easily identify if someone has done such an act to them or not. The length is also important, how long the act is being committed. The sexual harassment falls in two main categories: hostile and quid pro quo environment.
Hostile Environment includes sexually explicit language, sexually provocative photos, inappropriate touching, and derogatory language. Most of the time these acts are committed at work which makes it uncomfortable and intimidating for other employees.
Quid Pro Quo is when the sexual harassment is when the employer’s condition for hiring, salary raise, assignments, performance, promotion, and relocation are based on whether the employee is willing to provide sexual benefits.
Another important fact worth mentioning in your sexual harassment essay or thesis is the number of victims and perpetrators. Based on the 2015 study conducted by Cosmopolitan 40-70% of reported cases involve women ages 18-34 years old. Most of the women, in this case, are harassed by men in a higher position.
Around 10-20% of men have been harassed, and this only shows that this notorious act does not only involve women as the victim but men as well. This could make your thesis more interesting. Around 59% of men reported that women in higher positions had sexually maligned them and around 41% reported that they were being harassed sexually by the same gender.
Sexual harassment can also take place between customer and vendor or supplier. The vital fact that can draw attention to your readers is the information about the victims and perpetrators.
There are lots of topics you can discuss when writing an essay since sexual harassment is a broad subject. Here are some of the topics that you can consider:
When writing a thesis about sexual harassment, you can focus on the guidelines and discuss the following in the body – what is sexual harassment, ways to prevent it and how the policy is being reinforced to deter the perpetrator and prevents you from being a victim.
You need to mention the effectiveness of a workplace policy on the views of employees on sexual harassment. If the establishment you are working with does not have a clear stand about this, you can lengthen the discussion to create a good thesis.
There are lots of cases of sexual harassment that are not being reported. You can discuss in your thesis the importance of voicing out and what are the effects of your silence. Make sure you mention how silence can escalate cases of sexual harassment in the office. Some failed to report them because they were not happy with how the course of action takes place. You can also discuss the other reasons that might have prompted you not to tell anyone of your case is that you are afraid you will be moved to another department, undermined confidence, may ruin your professional performance and you are afraid the perpetrator might retaliate.
This is also a good topic to discuss in your essay. Strong statements about sexual harassment could be a good start. You can lengthen this topic by categorizing the effects like physical effects, psychological effects, workplace effects, school effects, and others:
For this topic, you can discuss how to say no. You can send an email or letter that discourages this unwanted behavior. Recording the harassment as it occurs is also a good topic to discuss. Maybe you can tackle how to record the action without getting caught. You can consult a psychiatrist or psychologist if you have serious psychological distress.
This is also a very good topic to discuss with if you are writing about sexual harassment. So, what are these factors that you can discuss and elaborate further to come up with an effective thesis? There are three factors:
Individual factors – you can discuss personality and socialization
Community factors discuss the institutions in your community such as schools, workplaces, churches and the occurrence of sexual harassment in the community.
Your interpersonal relationship with your peers, community members, and family.
Societal factors involve religion, policies, and societal norms
The protective factors discuss the factors that may help prevent the occurrence of such act. These factors will act as a buffer against it. To make your thesis interesting, you can discuss how emotional well-being, democratic parental, academic achievement, empathy can protect and prevent an individual from experiencing such a notorious act.
Your sexual harassment thesis can be more interesting and appealing to your readers if you will give them some ideas on how to prevent it from happening. The main objective of discussing prevention is to end victimization and unhealthy behaviors. You can talk about the different levels of prevention such as follows:
The first level is prevention before the act could take place and focus on avoiding victimization and perpetration. You can focus on selected individuals or to all who are at risk of experiencing it.
Secondary level pertains to the immediate action done after sexual harassment occurs, like the arrest of the criminal and counseling the victim.
Tertiary level deals with the long-term consequences of the act and how to intervene for the victim and the abuser. It is best to discuss how to help the victim can recover from it completely. The specialized treatment and continuous management is a good topic.
How can you possibly measure the emergence of such incidence? You can add surveys on your thesis. The most widely used and well-validated way of measuring sexual harassment is to create a questionnaire. The best way of assessing the situation can be discussed in details to understand the situation fully.
Concentrate on the first-hand experience or observe the behavior rather than believing what you hear. Studies and various laws about it should support it. Make sure that your survey is not underreported just like others. It is important that you follow the standard and the right practices for survey research.
Even if surveys are the recommended methods for estimating the prevalence of sexual harassment, there are other aspects of this act and its consequences that can be checked using other methods. Some of them include interviews, legal research, behavioral laboratory experiments, case studies, interviews, and ethnographies. They provide more information about the occurrence and nature of the act in an organization, how it progresses and continues, and how it amplifies results form sexual harassment.
You have a good thesis statement, and your topic looks interesting. What else do you need? It is important that your claims are very well supported. Supporting your thesis is the overall objective of writing your essay. It includes studies, researches and others that can support your thesis. You need to choose the best supporting details for your thesis.
Using different kinds of support for your thesis is a good idea. Personal experiences and observations are some of the easiest forms of support that you can use. The strong points of adding personal stories are that they add emotion and interest, that can attract more readers. Using subjective and anecdotal to support personal experiences and observations are too weak to support the thesis.
Since these things can be verified, facts can strengthen personal anecdotes. For instance, you tell stories that you experience sexual harassment without giving facts that will support your claim; no one will believe you. But if you state personal anecdote and support it with facts and other details, people might get interested and will continue reading your thesis.
You can add statistics and laws about sexual harassment to support your claims. It will make your thesis looks accurate and believable.
In concluding your essay on sexual harassment, it is best to summarize the growing risk, the statistics, the reasons why such an act is committed and the consequences of the acts. You can also stress the prevention strategies and human rights being violated. Concentrate on the benefits of focusing on sexual harassment in the specific area to end your thesis strong. Make sure the conclusion of your thesis answers your arguments and your thesis statement, if not it will be a failure.