Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions

by Lisa Wade, Myra Marx Ferree

Overview

A lively exploration of current questions of gender and their application to students today.
Wade and Ferree’s first edition textbook is a lively introduction to the sociology of gender. Probing questions, the same ones that students often bring to the course, frame readable chapters that are packed with the most up-to-date scholarship available—in language students will understand. The authors use memorable examples mined from pop culture, history, psychology, biology, and everyday life to truly engage students in the study of gender and spark interest in sociological perspectives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393931075
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/15/2014
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lisa Wade, PhD, is a professor at Occidental College. She is an accomplished scholar and award-winning teacher with degrees in philosophy, human sexuality, and sociology. She lives in Los Angeles but calls New Orleans “home.”

Myra Marx Ferree is the Alice H. Cook Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective (2012), co-author of Shaping Abortion Discourse (2002) and Controversy and Coalition (2000), and co-editor of Gender, Violence, and Human Security (2013), Global Feminism (2006), and Revisioning Gender (1998) as well as numerous articles and book chapters. She is the recipient of various prizes for contributions to gender studies, including the Jessie Bernard Award and Victoria Schuck Award. She continues to perform research on global gender politics. You can learn more on her website at ssc.wisc.edu/~mferree.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 3

1 Ideas 9

The Binary and Our Bodies 11

Gender Ideologies 23

The Binary and Everything Else 30

2 Bodies 39

Research on Gender Differences and Similarities 42

Defining Difference 44

Similarities between Men and Women 55

3 Performances 67

How to Do Gender 69

Learning the Rules 75

Why We Follow the Rules 78

How to Break the Rules 85

Doing Nonbinary 89

The Number One Gender Rule 91

4 Intersections 95

Intersectionality: A Quick History 97

Intersectional Gender Strategies 98

Race 99

Sexuality 107

Immigration and Nationality 111

Socioeconomic Class 114

Ability 116

Age and Attractiveness 119

5 Inequality: Masculinities 125

The Gender of Cheerleading 126

Gendered Power 129

Gender for Men 133

Can Masculinity Be Good? 150

6 Inequality: Femininities 157

Cheerleading Today 157

Gender for Women 159

Can Femininity Be Hegemonic? 180

The Big Picture 181

7 Institutions 187

The Organization of Daily Life 188

Gendered Institutions 191

The Institutionalization of Gender Difference 192

The Institutionalization of Gender Inequality 196

Institutional Inertia and Change 207

8 Change 215

The Evolution of Sex 216

The Evolution of Marriage 225

The Funny '50s 229

Going to Work 236

Marriage in the 2000s 239

Conclusion 242

9 Sexualities 245

Sex and Social Forces 246

On "Sexual Liberation" 249

Sex, Power, and Pleasure 250

Defining Sex 252

Divided Desire 254

Eroticized Inequality 255

Sexual Racism 257

Gendered Scripts 258

Sexual Violence 261

College Hookup Culture 265

10 Families 277

The Second Shift 278

The Feminization of Housework and Childcare 280

Balancing Paid and Unpaid Work 285

Going It Alone 299

Choosing Not to Have Children 302

Care during Covid-19 303

11 Work 309

The Changing Workplace 310

Job Segregation 313

Discrimination and Preferential Treatment 326

Parenthood: The Facts and the Fiction 333

The Changing Workplace, Revisited 337

12 Politics 343

The State 348

Threats to Feminist Progress 360

Social Movements 367

Conclusion 375

Glossary 383

Notes 391

Credits 465

Index 467