PDF Button Introduction Paid and unpaid work remain divided along gender lines because labor markets and households are shaped by social expectations, economic incentives, institutions, and unequal power. The original essay begins with a familiar story in which men hunted and women gathered, then argues that these roles survived into modern ideas of male breadwinners and female homemakers. That history is too simple. Anthropological research shows substantial variation in how

PDF Button Introduction Violence is gendered not because every man is violent or every woman experiences violence in the same way, but because societies attach power, authority, vulnerability, protection, aggression, and care to gendered identities. These expectations influence who is permitted to use force, whose fear is taken seriously, how victims are judged, and which forms of harm are normalized. Masculinity is especially important to this analysis because it is

PDF Button Introduction: Why the Plural Matters Masculinity refers to meanings, practices, identities, and expectations socially associated with men or with traits coded as masculine. The plural masculinities is often more useful because no single model describes all men, all cultures, or all historical periods. Masculine expectations vary by class, race, sexuality, age, religion, nationality, disability, occupation, and institutional setting. They also change over a person’s life. A young athlete,