Sex and Gender: An Introduction

Are sex and gender really two different things? How malleable is gender identity? Do both gender and sex have to be conceptualized as binaries—as having two distinct but complementary categories? Should we emphasize gender differences, or is that the wrong question? When should we call a gender difference “small”? Are women really “nonaggressive” or does that label stem from stereotyping? How does subtle or “modern” sexism work on its targets? Scholarship on these and other gender-related questions has exploded in recent years. Hilary Lips synthesizes that research for students in an accessible and readable way. Concepts on sex and gender are presented with the social context in which they were developed. As in previous editions, Lips takes a multicultural approach, discussing the gender experiences of people from a wide range of races, cultures, socioeconomic statuses, and gender and sexual identities. She emphasizes empirical research but takes a critical approach to that research.