New Roles for Men and Women.

In one sense it is presumptuous to speak of new roles for men and women. The exploration of the infinite variety of relationships that are possible between two people of opposite sex has been going on since long before history began to be recorded. If this were the proper occasion, it would be intriguing to pursue the question of what role the humanities play, or should play, as against the social sciences in affecting the quality of experience through bringing to bear on it the experience of others. The family life educator and counselor may in fact be performing a function that the humanities claim, but to a large degree fail to exercise the genuine application to actual living of the perceptiveness obtained by the process of generalization. Despite the professed fears of some foreign, and even some native observers of American life, the decline of segregation of the sexes has not reduced erotic and romantic behavior. Instead, interest in these, and time spent in enjoying them, have conspicuously heightened. The repertoire of masculine and feminine sexual roles has widened among most segments of the society.