Includes bibliographical references (p. [204]-217) and index.

Introduction -- In and out of the frame : a personal history of gender -- What's in a name? : meanings and usages of gender -- Gendering and class : growing up girl, growing up boy -- Gender and modernity -- 'What's it all about?' : being a man in the twenty-first century -- Gender and postmodernity -- 'Sisters under their skins?' : identities in a global age -- Gendered worlds : production -- Having it all : family and employment in women's lives -- Gendered worlds : reproduction -- Men and me : arrangements between the sexes -- Gendered worlds : consumption -- It doesn't have to be this way : gendered Utopias -- Conclusion : what the future holds : gender, theory and politics.

"In this lively and accessible book Harriet Bradley provides an introduction to the concept of gender and the different theoretical approaches which have developed within gender studies. Using life narratives, she explores contemporary relations of masculinity and femininity and investigates processes of gendering in three important spheres of contemporary social life: production, reproduction and consumption. The book highlights the centrality of gender in everyday life and shows how thinking about gender is influenced by changing political contexts, considering the options for a transformative politics of gender. This book will be of interest to students across the social sciences, as well as anyone interested in contemporary relations between women and men." -- Cover.