Increasingly, professional communicators are involved in situations in which social action, and questions of ethical and civic responsibility, are implicated. Arguing that feminist scholarship is a relevant and powerful means of understanding these situations, we position the five contributions to this special issue within theoretical frameworks that explore interconnections of gender with methods and practices in technical and professional communication. After outlining areas for future research, we raise the question of men's relation to gender research and feminism, calling for more scholarship that engages a wider spectrum of feminist thought.

Sales activities have been understood by some to be negative, one-sided rhetorical encounters. Teachers of technical communication will find it more helpful to view sales proposals as aimed toward the construction and maintenance of long-term relationships, a view held by far-thinking sales professionals. Hermeneutic theory, by offering a different conceptual relationship between means and ends than even new rhetoric suggests, can help clarify the process by which ethical know-how intersects with persuasion. Consequently, it can offer technical communication instructors a valuable perspective from which to teach sales proposal writing.