Gender theorists point to the variations in gender roles observed among different cultures in arguing that gender – our masculinity or femininity – is a social construct rather than an innate biological characteristic. Because there is no universal “right” way to be a man or a woman, they argue that our ways of “doing gender” are shaped by social cues and influences. As we explore questions like the ones I posed above, questions of family structures, of social cues about what is masculine and what is feminine, of wages and leisure activities, we will analyze cultural norms that dictate appropriate behavior – in other words, we will do “gender studies.”