Plain-language explanation.
Anthropological study of gender reveals that what counts as "masculine" or "feminine" varies enormously across cultures — challenging biological determinism. Different societies recognise different numbers of genders; gender roles vary from one society to the next. Anthropology also studies sexuality as culturally variable and historically changing rather than simply biological or fixed.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Cross-cultural gender: Margaret Mead's Sex and Temperament (temperamental variation between Arapesh, Mundugumor, and Tchambuli questioning fixed sex differences); David Schneider's critique (American Kinship) of ethnocentric projection of Western gender categories. Gender diversity: third-gender and non-binary categories across cultures — hijra (South Asia), fa'afafine (Samoa), Two-Spirit peoples (Native American), kathoey (Thailand) — demonstrating gender plurality as a human possibility rather than a modern Western invention. Sexual diversity cross-culturally: Boswell's same-sex unions in pre-modern Europe; Herdt's Sambia ritual homosexuality (New Guinea); and Weston's Families We Choose (lesbian and gay kinship in San Francisco).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Feminist anthropology: critique of male bias in ethnographic representation (Ardener's muted group theory: women's models of the world are suppressed by dominant male models); woman-centred ethnography; and intersectionality (Crenshaw: race, gender, class, and sexuality as mutually constitutive systems of oppression). Gender and development: Women in Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD) — shifting from women as beneficiaries to transforming gender power relations. Queer theory in anthropology (Butler's performativity: gender and sexuality as performances rather than essences; Rubin's sex/gender system and the politics of sexuality).
How it is applied in practice.
Gender and sexuality in professional contexts: workplace gender equality (pay gap analysis, occupational segregation, flexible working, parental leave); sexual harassment and discrimination law; diversity and inclusion programmes. Healthcare and gender: gender-sensitive medicine (clinical trials historically conducted on male subjects; drug metabolism and symptom presentation differ by sex — heart disease in women underdiagnosed); transgender healthcare and the anthropology of transition. Consumer behaviour and gender: how gender identity shapes consumption, brand preference, and marketing response — and how businesses are responding to changing gender norms. The anthropology of care (Mol, Tronto): care as practice, ethics, and political economy — who performs care, how it is valued, and the global inequalities of the care economy.