When do people call someone emotional? Why is it generally accepted that women are emotional and men are not? What are the actual differences between men and women with regard to specific emotions? Under what circumstances are these differences most pronounced? How can we explain these alleged differences? In this book a distinguished international group of scholars seek to address these and other questions in an attempt to disentangle the complex and fascinating relationship between gender and emotion. Presenting a systematic overview of the most recent social psychological research in this field, the contributors combine empirical evidence and theoretical explanations to examine a wide range of emotions and emotional expressions and how they vary according to gender and context.

"the authors unravel sex difference findings, deconstruct common gender myths about emotionality, and look to the broader social, political, economic, and historical contexts for guidance, all of which make the text both theoretically rich and feminist in its perspective and potential applications...a solid, empirical and theoretical work. Emotion theorists and gender theorists alike will find much to think about in this edited volume. The new data presented and the careful, critical reviews of past work will become valued references for scholars in both fields." Psychology of WOmen Quarterly, 25 (2001)