This interdisciplinary anthology presents some of the major issues and controversies currently being discussed in the disciplines of anthropology, biology, history, literature and language, the performing arts, popular culture, psychology, religion, and sociology. All the essays in this collection focus on the social constructiveness of gender, that is, the ways in which definitions of femininity and masculinity influence the formation of the individual, society, and culture. Yet each essay provides its own disciplinary perspective as it explores the differences between nature and nurture, biological fact, and culturally imposed gender role.