Why is gender such a huge thing? Why are there such dramatic differences, and for that matter so many ways in which genders differentiate themselves? Who does it serve? For some it’s clear. For some it’s not. “The Five Sexes" and “Doing Gender” look at where gender identities are birthed and what flaws are innate to them. They do so by examining gender as a social construct. And they make the reader challenge their notions of where gender comes from and it’s concreteness. And they do so convincingly. The question of, “what’s in it for me?” may really be at the heart of why gender roles are so emphasized in the world. The way I am describing this may have struck you as somewhat vague. I am not using the language of “patriarchy” and that of being “hand-cuffed by socially enlisted gender constraints” or talking about “male perpetuated systemic violence.” And, I am doing so because of two women I have never met. Two women in my wife’s graduate program who evidently are “post-feminist.” They ascribe to the thinking that these notions are bunk and have no relevance. And I just can’t understand how this is possible. So, I thought, maybe vagaries are the way to introduce the ideas. These two essays may be the perfect stating point for this conversation. Just the fact that gender is in reality “done” (not as in finished but as in acted out), may allow some to consider its flaws.