Gender Analysis and Foreign Relations by: Laura McEnaneyLaura McEnaney's article entitled Gender Analysis and Foreign Relations is an interesting article focusing on a relatively new type of analysis that offers another point of view into the world of policymaking. Diplomatic historians who use genre analysis use it in addition to the historian's usual methodologies to enhance the historian's studies. Gender analysis has inspired new investigations into the history of men and women and diplomacy, giving rise to a new kind of understanding of power in a historical context; however, gender analysis “enters diplomatic history only through the aegis of culture.” This approach to studying and interpreting the history of foreign policy seems deeper than the usual methodologies that historians typically use. McEnaney, the author of this article, describes gender analysis as a tool that allows historians to “examine the organization of power in any arena, from the most public to the most intimate.” This type of analysis delves deep into the skeletons of a historical individual's writings and helps reveal how ideologies of masculinity and femininity are rooted in the history of American foreign policy. The proposals of gender analysis have developed new implications for the history of foreign policy. This study focuses on the stereotypical characteristics of men and women and how those stereotypes influenced the decisions of individuals who helped develop foreign policy. Ideas about what defines masculinity and femininity are believed to have been an important part of decision makers' thoughts and ideas about what foreign policy should be. The gender analysis perspective is unique in that it is a new way of seeing... ... middle of paper ...... the archives of diplomacy. Popular speeches can be labeled as feminine while diplomatic documents can be labeled as masculine. Gender analysis has been a subject of debate since it was originally used because it gained momentum in fields that were outside of diplomatic history; it was more of a cultural studies arena focused on literature. Because of this, skeptics have wondered how sexual metaphors can actually help in the historical realm of things. In conclusion, gender analysis has broadened a field of study and offered historians new ways of thinking about foreign policy. It provided a way to include more ideas and variables into the equation, expanding long historical debates. At the same time, there will always be skeptics of genre analysis, but as time passes historians will be given more opportunities to test the merits of genre analysis..