Sex and Unisex

This skillful, interdisciplinary work is important reading for scholars in many disciplines and continues a conversation Paoletti began in 2012 with Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America.

With interest, energy, and a tinge of nostalgia, Paoletti explores the unsettling of gender roles and identity in the late 1960s and '70s caused by the sexual revolution and the fight for equal rights through the popular but short-lived trend in unisex clothing for men, women, and kids.

This book is truly refreshing: an incisive, challenging look at gender, sex, and sexuality from a feminist scholar, but without a trace of academic jargon or theoretical posturing.

There's a lot to agree with, and a lot to disagree with in Paoletti's book, but it's an ambitious, creative, and thought-provoking study that offers much to consider.

The philosophical significance of physical appearance, as shown in this book, seems undeniable. Paoletti didn't invent the sociological study of fashion, but she has made an impressive contribution to it.

Arguing through carefully selected case studies, this accessible monograph explores shifting masculinities and femininities amid a series of culture wars that emerged alongside an increasingly consumer-oriented and image-based society invested in self-examination.

The fact and the way she has raised these questions can keep gender and sexuality researchers busy for a long time to come. For serious scholars, this book scratches the surface, in a good way. Each chapter poses abundant questions that merit full-length book considerations.