Baker (linguistics and English language, Lancaster University) looks at how the use of language, particularly in advertising and the media often belies the belief that gender equality has been achieved. He examines the subject starting with recent publications that attempt to define gender differences. He moves on to how gender is expressed in conversation. Then he takes up the question of deciding what is normal in terms of sexual identity. This leads to the theme of masculine hegemony, in which even violent behavior is somehow acceptable within the framework of a heterosexual relationship. Applying queer theory to the situations of anyone living outside the one man/one woman matrix, Baker demonstrates how it can shed light on our continued perceptions of what is the norm as evidence in the texts we encounter every day. Distributed in North American by the David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)