William I. Thomas , author (together with Florian Znaniecki) of the great research study The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. 1918-1920 , focused his early studies on women's reality, and shared his insights through countless articles, partially collected in Sex and Society , 1907.

Starting from his presence in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago and his ethnological and sociological approaches, this book examines his contribution as a major theorist on the sociology of women, as well as an interpreter of modern women's experiences, analysing contemporary sexual differences, modesty and emotions, body, clothing and new love relationships as opposed to traditional female role within social reproduction.