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Questioning Gender
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Questioning Gender
A Sociological Exploration

Fourth Edition


July 2020 | 552 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration serves as a point-of-departure for productive conversations and questions about gender and as a resource for exploring answers to many of those questions. Rather than providing definitive answers, this book takes a global approach and aims to challenge students’ preconceptions about gender and to demonstrate how gender as a system creates and reinforces inequality. Author Robyn Ryle uses both historical and cross-cultural approaches to help students understand the socially constructed nature of gender. With a focus on contemporary topics, including the #MeToo movement, sexual harassment in the workplace, and the gender wage gap, students will be prompted to think critically about past, present, and future gender-related issues.


Included with this title:

The password-protected Instructor Resource Site (formally known as SAGE Edge)
offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides. Learn more.
 
Specific Areas of Interest
 
Preface to the Fourth Edition
 
About Questioning Gender
 
PART I. WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT GENDER?
 
Chapter 1. What Is Gender and Why Should We Care About It? Introducing Gender
Swimming With the Fishes: Learning to See Gender

 
Sex or Gender? What’s the Difference?

 
A Word About Biology and Strong Social Constructionism

 
Why Study Gender?

 
Terms

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 2. What’s the “Sociology” in the Sociology of Gender? Understanding Sociology and Gender
Why Do You Need Theory to Understand Gender?

 
Feminist Theories and Their Influence on Sociological Thinking About Gender

 
Sociological Theories of Gender

 
Sex Roles

 
Interactionist Theories

 
Institutional or Structural Approaches

 
Intersectional Feminist Theory

 
Putting It All Together: Integrative Theories

 
Hegemonic Masculinity

 
Conclusion

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 3. How Do Disciplines Outside Sociology Study Gender? Some Additional Theoretical Approaches
Psychological Approaches to Gender

 
Queer Theory

 
Gender Theories in Global Perspective

 
Ecofeminism and the Environment

 
How Do We Use Theory?

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
PART II. HOW ARE OUR LIVES FILLED WITH GENDER?
 
Chapter 4. How Do We Learn Gender? Gender and Socialization
Sorting It All Out: Gender Socialization and Intersex Children

 
Some Theories of Gender Socialization

 
The Early Years: Primary Socialization Into Gender

 
Learning Gender Never Ends: Secondary Socialization

 
Summing Up

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 5. How Does Gender Matter for Whom We Want and Desire? The Gender of Sexuality
Let’s Talk About Sex

 
Does Sexuality Have a Gender?

 
Measuring Sexuality: What Is Sexual Identity?

 
Playing the Part? Sexual Scripts

 
Violating the Scripts

 
Sexuality and Power: Hetero-privilege in Schools

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 6. How Does Gender Impact the People You Spend Your Time With? The Gender of Friendship and Dating
Love, Inside and Outside the Family

 
My Friend Jane Versus My Friend Joe: Who’s Better at Being Friends?

 
Friendship in Global Perspective

 
The Rules of Attraction

 
Love Without Gender

 
Summing Up

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 7. How Does Gender Matter for How We Think About Our Bodies? The Gender of Bodies and Health
A Brief History of Bodies

 
The Beauty Myth

 
Gender and Health: Risky Masculinity and the Superman

 
Throwing Like a Girl

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
PART III. HOW IS GENDER AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE WAY OUR SOCIETY WORKS?
 
Chapter 8. How Does Gender Impact the People We Live Our Lives With? The Gender of Marriage and Families
Something Old, Something New

 
A Brief History of Marriage

 
The Demographics of Marriage

 
Who Does What? The Gendered Division of Labor

 
The Doctrine of Separate Spheres

 
The Division of Household Labor

 
Families in Transition

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 9. How Does Gender Affect the Type of Work We Do and the Rewards We Receive for Our Work? The Gender of Work
What Is Work?

 
Measuring the World’s Work

 
A Man’s Job: Masculinity and Work

 
The Glass Ceiling and the Glass Escalator

 
Sex Segregation in the Workplace

 
Explaining Sex Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap

 
Trans Men at Work

 
Comparable Worth and Other Solutions to the Gender Wage Gap

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 10. How Does Gender Affect What You Watch, What You Read, and What You Play? The Gender of Media and Popular Culture
The Media: An Interesting Institution

 
Media Power Theory: We’re All Sheep

 
Transgender in the Media

 
Gender, Sexuality, and Slash Fiction

 
The Struggle Over Images

 
Sexuality in the Media

 
Masculinity and Video Games: Learning the Three Rs

 
The Gender of Leisure

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Chapter 11. How Does Gender Help Determine Who Has Power and Who Doesn’t? The Gender of Politics and Power
Power: Good and Bad

 
Coercive Power

 
Gender Rights and Human Rights?

 
Institutional Power: Defining Gender

 
Big Questions

 
Gender Exercises

 
What Can You Do? Resources for Social Change

 
Terms

 
Suggested Readings

 
Works Cited

 
 
Glossary
 
Index
 
About the Author

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site
edge.sagepub.com/ryle4e

Online resources included with this text

The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site, which offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.

“This textbook is straightforward and to the point. I love how the questions are included on different pages for students to use in face-to-face or online discussions. I enjoyed the Theory Alert! feature."

Marisol White
Bakersfield College

“The book is extremely comprehensive in its coverage of the area of gender and sexuality. Particularly, noteworthy is the amount of attention and discussion given to transgendered issues.”

Zabedia Nazim
Ryerson University & Wilfrid Laurier University

“A comprehensive overview of information, simple but effective explanation of concepts and interesting and relevant examples.”

Michelle Altieri
County College of Morris

“Real strengths are its emphasis on masculinity, focus on sociological theory, and the examples.”

Clifford Leek
University of Northern Colorado

Great book with rich content and easy to follow for students readings!

Dr Aslan Tanekenov
Sociology, Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP)
December 1, 2021

The text emphasized foundations for learning about gender better than any I read and used before. The inclusion of feminist theory made it comprehensive and accessible in relation to how gender is studied and researched. It is an important lens from which to discuss gender and to interrogate students' own precepts coming into the classroom. This is perfect for social sciences in general and supports sociological concepts that may not have been fully addressed in an introductory class.

Dr Vida Samuel
Communications, Univ Of Connecticut-Stamford
October 27, 2021