As feminists reflect on the impact of the second wave of feminism and assess the gains of the last 30 years, invariably they have questioned whether claims that women have achieved equality in education, work and in the home are justified. In the late 1980s, there was a proliferation of the popular imagery of new men and post-feminist women, with the concept of post-feminism reinforcing and emphasising the differences between independent, upwardly-mobile, career-orientated women and those women who choose the more natural role of wife and mother.

This work explores the many uses of autobiography, from historical projects which are often about retrieval and reclamation of previously hidden or misrepresented texts, to the contemporary projects of claiming a voice, and the gathering of personal testimony for educational and ideological purposes.

This text provides a feminist overview of the development of both the mainstream and the feminist variant of the survey as a means of investigating sexual attitude and behaviour. It examines the origins and development of the sex survey and focuses on the sex survey as a research means for a number of reasons: firstly, sex surveys have been an important means of influencing popular opinion about sexual norms and conventions. Secondly, this approach is of great importance in ideas about science and generalisability and validity. Thirdly, changes and developments in the form and status of the...