Gender is commonly thought of as dependent on sex even though there are occasional aberrations. Interviews with female-to-male trans people, however, suggest that sex and sex characteristics can be understood as expressions of gender. The expression of gender relies on both behavior and the appearance of the performer as male or female. When sex characteristics do not align with gender, behavior becomes more important to gender expression and interpretation. When sex characteristics become more congruent with gender, behavior becomes more fluid and less important in asserting gender. Respondents also challenge traditional notions of sexual orientation by focusing less on the sex of the partner and more on the gender organization of the relationship. The relationship’s ability to validate the interviewee’s masculinity or maleness often takes precedence over the sex of the partner, helping to explain changing sexual orientation as female-to-male transsexual and transgendered people transition into men.

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Between 1980 and 2002, the black-white wage gap among women tripled, climbing steadily despite improving economic conditions in the 1990s. Relative distribution analysis shows an increasingly dense accumulation of black women's wages in the lowest deciles of white women's wage distribution over time. Although the transition to an "office economy" rewarded both black and white women with wage gains, white women reaped greater benefits. During the 1990s, black managers and professionals lost ground relative to white women, but also relative to other black women workers. Regardless of the economic climate, then, black women accumulated disadvantage, suffering most in the chilly economic climate of the 1980s, and benefiting least during the economic expansion of the 1990s.

This study examines the experiences of lesbian and gay faculty within the framework of minority stress theory. Previous research on minority stress has mainly relied on survey data to correlate stressors with negative outcomes among sexual orientation minorities. This study uses in-depth interviews with 9 lesbian and 9 gay faculty members at a regional, public university to illustrate the process of minority stress including the context of prejudicial events, how individuals interpreted discriminatory events, and the internal and external strategies used by participants to cope with minority stressors. The interviews suggest that aspects of minority stress such as expectations of rejection and the need to conceal identity are complex, requiring lesbian and gay individuals to continually monitor and negotiate their environments and interactions.