Each year, WGS senior majors write, refine, and present an original thesis project. Below is information about the process and WGS senior theses from past years.
About WMST 400 and the thesis
The WMST senior seminar is a writing intensive course required of all WGS majors. WMST 400 culminates in the production of a rigorous and substantial original thesis of at least 7500 words. WGS seniors:
- Develop a focused and original research question or topic of inquiry;
- Identify and incorporate relevant scholarship by thoroughly reviewing and summarizing seminal research related to the thesis topic (i.e., the literature review and annotated bibliography)
- Draw upon primary and secondary sources for arguments and evidence in support of the thesis;
- Produce, share, and constructively critique multiple drafts of the thesis with the instructor and WGS peers;
- Revise and produce a polished final draft of the written thesis; and
- Prepare, practice, and deliver the research results in a preliminary oral presentation that will foreground preparation for the oral defense in the Easter semester.
Senior Theses
2023-24
| Margaret "Ellie" Friedman | "'Hogwash at Hogwarts': Questioning a Thriving Sexual Wellness Environment at Sewanee: The University of the South" |
| Sarah Gehres | "Analyzing Incidental Appeals to Postcolonial Themes in Ms. Lauryn Hill's Positionality, Discography, and Audience Reception" |
| Patricia "Cuca" Ramirez Miranda | "Black Women Do Breastfeed: Using the Reproductive Justice Framework to Re-center African American Mothers' Experiences in Breastfeeding Initiatives" |
| Tamara Rodriguez | "Haunted by Poor Representation: An Analysis of Lesbian Representation in the Haunting Anthology" |
2022-23
| Ellie Davis | "Criminalized Pregnancy in a Post-Roe America: Predicting State Threat to Reproductive Freedoms Following the Dobbs Decision" |
| Ava Spiegel | "Through a Criminal Feminist Lens: Applying Restorative Justice Approaches in Title IX Cases of Campus Sexual Misconduct" |
2021-22
| Chandler Gallaher | "Where are the Feminists? Feminists' Contradicting Claims in the American Surrogacy Debate" |
2020-21
| Amanda Bell | "Intersects of Intersectionality: Black Women in Positions of Power" |
| Sarah Elisabeth Mixon | "The Rape Play: Exploring Themes of Sexual Violence in Theatrical Drama, With an Emphasis on Works from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire to Post-Me Too Era Contemporaries" |
| Caroline Roncalli | "The Evolution of Representation in the Fashion Industry" |
| Hagen Weiss | "Female Incarceration in the United States: A History of the Social Stigma, Public Policy, and Sexualization Leading to and Surrounding Female Incarceration and How Incarcerated Females Are Using Social Media to Fight Back" |
