Confucianism, colonialism and socialism have all contributed significantly to gender relations in Vietnam. More recently, political and social change associated with modernization and globalization have also had an impact.

How do the Vietnamese display their social positions and their identities as male or female? This volume examines negotiations, and transgressions, of gender within Vietnamese society, looking at gender, family, social and work relations, bodily displays, body language and occupation of space. Of special interest is a discussion of sexual harassment in schools and the workplace, and the strategies women adopt to deal with it, the first discussion of this issue by a Vietnamese scholar.

The essays reflect a wide range of scholarly viewpoints (American, Vietnamese-American, Australian, Scandinavian, Canadian and Vietnamese), as well as analytical perspectives as diverse as those offered by Simone de Beauvoir and the second wave of Western feminism.