In "Repetition", a David Bowie cover, domestic violence is explored ("I guess the bruises won't show/If she wears long sleeves"), and the possessiveness underlying an open relationship is pilloried in "We're So Cool" ("you must admit/I'm prepared to share/At off-peak times").

The song led to limited distribution of the album in Ireland, when Northern Irish record distributors refused to carry it.

In a 1981 review for Record Mirror, Mark Cooper wrote that the Au Pairs' "critique of all forms of possession and sexual stereotyping assumes a devastating power.

[13] Describing the album in The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), Owen James referred to the band's mix of humour and righteous anger, stating "They don't make them like this anymore.

"[2] The song "Diet", originally released as a single in 1980 and recorded for a session for BBC Radio 1 in 1981, was later released on Equal but Different (1994), a compilation of twenty of the band's BBC performances, and included on the extended reissue of Playing with a Different Sex; it was described by Fact as a "masterpiece of feminist rock" with an almost unparalleled "power and pathos".

[15] In a 2023 review for Pitchfork, Sophie Kemp called it "an oblique piece of music" and "one of those records that requires you to rewire your brain a little bit.