I find it hard to believe that anyone still expects to find women of the sort in "Sex and the City." My then-fiance loved the show, but I never really watched it closely. I could tell very quickly, though, that the four women in the show were just stand-ins for homosexual men. I believe "The Simpsons" made a joke about that a few years ago. Seems pretty obvious to me.

I don't find anything depressing or uplifting about this survey. I also think the assertion that women are not any more sexually free now than they were in the 1960s is absurd. Of course they are. Societal attitudes have changed considerably, not to mention a li'l thing called birth control.

It appears that a fair number of British women have been quite free sexually, they're just not sure they approve of the consequences of SOME of that freedom. Is it possible there are still people on this planet who are surprised that having a plethora of choices sometimes leads one to make a choice he or she regrets?

I'm not claiming to be a genius, but I'm pretty sure I had that figured out before my 10th birthday.

All decent people like Dolly Parton. Show me a person who doesn't like Dolly Parton and I'll show you a person who likes to eat puppies. Lily Tomlin is a great comic talent, a joy to watch. Fonda is a good actress, though she should stop embarrassing herself by appearing in movies with hacks like Jennifer Lopez.

The three women are terrific in "9 to 5" but you just don't have a great movie without Dabney Coleman, who made a career out of brilliant playing creeps.

is serious and it should be done by every administration. It is the public's house, after all. We own it, we should care about it. Not sure why HRC gets the blame for that, though. Might just as well blame her husband. He was running the show back then. If he had time to dally with Monica Lewinsky he had time to tell someone to replace the curtains.

the notion that married women in France are not sexually available is pretty funny. [Not that we Americans are paragons of sexual fidelity.]

The justification for a women-only policy is pretty important. If a company which purports to regard all its customers as equal is seen to make a special exception to its policies for religous reasons, it is opening up a can of worms it might prefer to leave on the shelf. These Islamic women are making this demand on explicit religious grounds. I know the rights of men are not necessarily of interest to the majority of writers and commentators on this blog, but it occurs to me that male members of this gym [many of whom, we must assume, have also paid for lifetime memberships] would have a decent complaint to make. Why should they be denied access to a gym because of the religious beliefs of a relatively small number of members?

Of course, there is another way around this. While closing the gym to men on certain days, the company could close the gym to women on other days. Something like, two days a week are for women only, two days a week are for men only and three days a week are gender-neutral. That would seem to spread the "pain" around evenly and satisfy the demands of the Islamic women.

Of course, that would mean non-Islamic women would have to sacrifice on behalf of their Islamic sisters. One wonders how long the sisterhood would remain united under those circumstances. Could be interesting/amusing to watch.

On the other hand, aren't there already gyms that cater to a mostly or entirely female clientele? They might appreciate having some business thrown their way.

The phrase "male tennis star Bobby Riggs" is widely used in stories about this subject. It is also rather deceptive. Let's face it, Bobby Riggs was an EX-tennis star when he played Billie Jean King. He was also a tennis hustler who initiated the "Battle of the Sexes" matches for financial reasons. Bobby Riggs was born before the end of World War 1 and was 55 years old when he played Billie Jean King. I know it makes for a better story if King had defeated the equivalent of Pete Sampras in his prime. Alas, it would also be quite inaccurate.

Earlier that year, Riggs had crushed 30-year-old Margaret Court. Bille Jean King, however, was a craftier opponent and forced Riggs to race around the court -- something he couldn't do at age 55. The result was an easy victory for Billie Jean King. Another result was a big shot in the arm for the game of tennis, which gained attention and became more popular in the United States. Yet another result, of course, and by far the most important, was a greater interest in sports among American women and girls.

I'm too young to recall Billie Jean King. I did grow up, however, watching the great Martina Navratilova. It was lonely being an American fan of Navratilova in the 1980s, since every tennis fan I know of both sexes was in love with Chris Evert. To the extent that Martina is grateful to Billie Jean King, I am, as well. I look forward to the HBO documentary.

"Why is the left enamoured of the Islamofacism?"

Please. Every time one thinks/imagines/hopes we've moved beyond the primitive Why Do You Hate America and Freedom? debate in this country, a righty comes along to dash those dreams. You can't tell anything about Ms Traister's views of Islam [much less fascism] from her post. And even if you could, how did Ms Traister become the spokesperson for the American Left? You don't get to make that designation yourself, Jeff.

And just for the record, Jeffrey, you should learn how to spell fascism. If you're going to hate it and blame the left for it, you ought to be able to spell it.