The New Basics Sex

There has been an outpouring of discussion and interest in recent years on gender and sexual identities in the disciplines of sociology and women's studies. Now, for the first time, there is a reader available that bridges the study of both gender and sexuality, providing a thorough examination of their interconnections. In an accessible format, the editors of The New Basics construct a new model for making sense of gender and sexuality by raising provocative questions such as: How has our understanding of the relationship among sex, gender, and sexuality changed over time? How are these concepts constructed differently across cultures? What is the difference between transgender, transsexual, and queer? How does class and race shape people's experiences and expressions of gender and sexuality? While exploring a wide range of issues, each piece makes the relationship among sex, gender, and sexual identities central to the analysis. The New Basics includes first-person accounts and narratives, poems, theoretical analyses, and critiques of existing research. Due to the evolution of thought and terminology in recent years, the editors have included a useful and unique glossary of basic and new terms.