This course examines the concepts of sex and gender as they are interpreted through and acted upon within the social and cross-cultural contexts of contemporary social life. Exploring first the foundations of biological and cultural beliefs about sex and gender, the course proceeds to examine theories of gender formation, the social context of genderization, the concepts of masculine and feminine, and the culturally variable context of sexuality. It continues with feminism and its possibilities, the relationship of sexuality and power, and with some of the current issues in the study of sex and gender, such as the representation of gender and sexuality in new media, the advent of globalization and the place of sex in the postmodern world.