This text book is an excellent read! It explores the topic of gender roles by essays articulately written by a diverse collection of authors such as: Alan Alda, Edmund White, Simone De Beauvoir, Susan Brownmillar, Gloria Steinem, Plato, Pope Pius XI, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Margaret Sanger, Viginia Woolf, Case Millar, Kate Swift, Ronald Regan, and Charles Krauhammer to name a few. It is not a book that just writes of the "female condition", but also how gender roles affect men. This book challenges the reader to explore their own thoughts on gender roles and society, to find meaning from the text and hopefully to apply it to their own lives.