Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Gender

This debate-style reader is designed to introduce students to controversies in gender studies. The readings, which represent the arguments of leading psychologists and other social commentators, reflect a variety of viewpoints and have been selected for their liveliness and substance and because of their value in a debate framework. Students will be exposed to a rich, exciting, and emotionally and politically charged body of theory, research, and practice. TAKING SIDES: GENDER, containing 20 issues organized into six parts, presents hotly debated issues in contemporary scholarly and public discourse. Students will actively develop critical thinking skills by analyzing opposing viewpoints and reach considered judgments. The issues will challenge students to consider what is sex, what is gender, and when is either relevant, and why. They will discover that what might appear to be binary, biologically based distinction is so much more.

An Instructor’s Resource Guide (available online only) accompanies the book. For each issue, the following have been provided: a synopsis of each author’s position on the issue, teaching suggestions, and multiple-choice and essay questions. The teaching hints consist of suggestions for generating class discussion around the themes raised by the clashing essays.