Part I deals with the ‘East’/ ‘West’ divide in several spatial and political contexts and from different perspective and experiences: cultural, economic, access to resources, power relations, migration. Part II analyzes the gendered dimension of politics in Romania, Hungary, Poland, and Lithuania and shows the ways in which women’s positions and feminism are shaped by the post-socialist political, social and economic environment and by .the divisions and dissentions within the feminisms that developed in these countries during the ‘transition’ period and influenced by the ‘Western’ feminist discourses. The third part 'Gender Trouble’? Performing Lesbian Identities in .the ‘East' focuses on the ways in which ‘Western’ discourses of sexuality/ies shape and construct lesbian communities and identities in, chiefly, Albania, Russia and Romania. Part IV, 'Gender in the (New) Media: Queers, Dolls, Cyborgs, Monsters and Humans', concentrates on several media/popular culture discourses: advertising, television, video games. The articles analyze different ways and practices through which gender/ sexual identities are formed, reformed and fluidized by old and new media. The last part, 'Challenges of Approaching Gender: Political Theory, Multiculturalism and Epistemology,' deals with the relation between gender and political theories, difficulties of a gendered multiculturalism approach, and the challenges of feminist and/or humanist epistemology.