01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Who this book is for
For sociology and gender-studies students beginning a focused study of gender and sexuality. Its short units can also support reading groups and introductory seminars. Readers seeking a list of individual differences will benefit from its shift toward the institutions and power relations that organise those differences.
Prerequisites
No prior feminist-theory course is required. Be willing to distinguish a personal opinion from an argument about social structures and to learn terms whose everyday meanings differ from their analytical use. A basic understanding of United States history helps with some institutional and movement examples.
What it covers
The units introduce feminist frameworks, intersectionality and the social construction of categories before examining binaries, families, media, health, the state, work and feminist movements. Race and class appear within the analysis of gender rather than as optional additions. The book connects concepts with institutions and collective action.
How to use it
Read the framework chapters before applying a term such as intersectionality. Choose a policy or media example and identify whose experience is treated as standard. Trace how two institutions shape the same person’s available choices. Then ask what evidence would challenge your account and how a proposed reform might affect groups differently. Keep historical context beside each movement example rather than assuming every feminist campaign shares one agenda.
Edition and sources
The UMass library edition provides the complete 2017 text under CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted. It derives from the authors’ Rebus edition. Institutional examples reflect their time and place; contemporary law, terminology and political developments need supplementary reading.
