orichalcum

So, I'm about to go off and teach Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World, and give my students the following anonymous survey:

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And coincidentally, outlawradio and karakara have alerted me to two news articles about the changing face of gender roles and attitudes towards sexuality in the modern world - one on how 60% of Yale undergraduate women interviewed said they wanted to stop working or work only part-time once they had kids: (sorry for bad link but on public computer): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/national/20women.html?pagewanted=1
and another on the FBI's recent increase in agents to fight adult pornography: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901570.html, while meanwhile I found a third article interesting which detailed a recent study showing a vast increase in the number of women under 30 who have had sexual experience with other women (14% in the 18-29 range) (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/national/16sex.html?hp&ex=1126929600&en=4cb329962222f612&ei=5094&partner=homepage), unmatched by the number of guys with same-sex experience, who are at about 7%, the same as higher age ranges.

Just on the basis of these articles, it seems like American society is careening in a series of rapidly different directions in terms of attitudes towards gender roles and appropriate sexuality. It's a time of change maybe - maybe as important as the 60's. Or maybe, this is just a bubble in a general peaceful trend towards more equality.

Comments invited. You can also respond to the survey if you want, even anonymously.