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'Gender history', like any other means of historical analysis, is not a neutral scientific instrument. Rather, gender history as a way of analyzing history is a lens that “reflect[s] and replicate[s] our own understandings of the world”. As such, gender historians must be careful to limit the extent to which their understanding of their own culture and time period's genders colors their understanding of diverse, historical genders. (Nick Thodal)
'History of masculinity' as a field has its roots in histories of gender more broadly, which was a field born to address the sidelining of women's experiences in the histories. The first gender historians argued that femininities fundamentally shaped the lived experiences of women, which led later scholars to conclude that masculinities must shape the lived experiences of men to a similar extent. (Nick Thodal)
Gender in general is a “process” that varies wildly throughout cultures and times, and even within cultures and times. (Nick Thodal)
Bydston's claim in the article is that Gender is a topic which is different from more definite ones like weapons and government. She claims Gender is a topic that isn't as simple as “masculine” and “feminine” but rather is a thing which is in constant, less identifiable, flux. Therefore, she claims, that categorizing Gender as a field of study in the same way as previously mentioned examples of topics is the incorrect way of going about studying Gender. (Henry Prior)