"This indispensable volume provides an introduction to the study of gender through an exploration of key terms that are a part of everyday discourse in this vital subject. Catharine R. Stimpson and Gilbert Herdt first provide a careful account of the evolution of the study of gender and its relation to women's and sexuality studies, and the twenty-one essays that follow span the study of gender and sexuality across the humanities and social sciences. Each essay presents the history of a given term - from bodies to utopia - and explains the conceptual importance it carries and the kinds of critical work it can be made to do. Distinguished contributors discuss concepts such as desire, identity, justice, kinship, love, race, and religion, revealing the unexpected histories, problems, and possibilities that each term opens up. The result is an essential reference for studying gender in many disciplinary contexts."-- from the publisher.