The question of gender--who we are as men and women--has never been more pressing, or more misunderstood. Weaving personal experience with expert knowledge, Dr. Abigail Favale provides an in-depth yet accessible account of the gender paradigm: a framework for understanding reality and identity that has recently risen to prominence. Favale traces the genealogy of gender to its origins in feminism and postmodern thought, describing how gender has come to eclipse sex, and how that shift is reshaping language, law, medicine, sexuality, and our own self-perceptions. With substance, clarity, and compassion, Favale teases out the hidden assumptions of the gender paradigm and exposes its effects.