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There may be no new studies in the just-released White House Report on Women, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to learn from the report, which conveniently culls all relevant government data on women. That includes some breakdowns of things we've been hearing about for awhile — women's education attainment contrasting with the pay gap — and a few little surprises. Some highlights, here. More »
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According to new census data, marriage rates in 2009 were the lowest they've been in a century. Why? It's the economy, stupid. Well, that, and the Wedding Channel. More »
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A new study shows that for some 30% of Americans, pets can be considered family. But not so much for gay partners. More »
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One psychologist thinks twentysomethings who are marrying, procreating, and starting careers later than their parents are inhabiting a new life stage called "emerging adulthood." But do today's young people really need a special term to define them? More »
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These sales-happy customer relations images from a modern food merchandising catalog (Modern Merchandising, 1939) come at an interesting time in the history of eating — or lesser yet, the history of buying food. More »
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Perhaps in response to all the recent talk about the female imperative for mate-poaching - or perhaps coincidentally - today's "Science Times" brings a piece by Natalie Angier suggesting that women are also prone to serial marriage. More »
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U.S.: One kiss. France: Two. Netherlands: 3. In today's "Freakonomics," Daniel Hamermesh asks, who makes the kissing rules? Who changes them? How do we learn them? And we'd better! [New York Times] More »
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A new book, The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie is a sociological study that seeks to examine the history and culture of undies, and by extension, a society in transition. The authors find that the more religious the area — and correspondingly, conservative women's outerwear — "the more risqué the underwear." And the lingerie itself is worthy of study, "an outrageous mixture of kitsch and creativity: thongs are adorned with fake birds – 'bird’s nest' (ish al-asfour) is the slang for women’s pubic hair – or even the red rose of martyrdom, symbol of Hizbollah; bras are emblazoned with 'I love you' in Arabic and play tunes when squeezed." This lighthearted approach to sexuality is exactly the kind of truth the authors hope to illuminate. As one puts it, "modernity is the process of removing the fig leaf from our contradictions.” [FT] More »
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The old adage that men marry their mothers has some truth to it, according to some scientists who study this sort of thing. Researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered that "If a man's mother is highly educated, chances are the woman he marries will have a similar education," Reuters reports. They surveyed men in their 20s and 30s who earned salaries in the top 10% for their age group and found that 80% of men whose mothers had college degrees married women with college degrees. Sociologist Christine Whelan, the co-author of the study, told Reuters, "For an increasing number of these men ... when they make their own choices about someone who they think will be a good wife in the future or a good mother, they go back to their role models." [Reuters] More »
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There is a totally made-up story in today's New York Times about Bottega Veneta. You know Bottega. They make those basketweave-y leather bags. Unless you don't know Bottega, in which case now you know the source of all the noxious superiority fumes whenever you're in the realm of one of the carriers of one of those basketweavy bags. Well, here's the "trend": The idea is that Bottega's bags are getting popular because they are more "understated" than flashy Louis Vuitton bags, and people are sick of logos. You know, the basketweave, it is not quite like a logo. No one knows where it's from. Until they do. And then they recognize it everywhere they see it. So it's like a logo, but subtler. Plus, you can't knock it off! So people know you spent a lot of money. Sort of like with a logo, if all the people who stole other people's logos were rounded off and thrown in Guantanamo Bay like God intended. Seriously though. I have known about Bottega since 2006, when I took a press trip to Hong Kong, on which a publicist was hellbent on acquiring a knockoff...Bottega Veneta.
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