Hello Kossacks,
First of all, I want to thank everyone for participating in yesterday's age poll. A bonus "thank you" to those who rec'd the diary, earning me my first trip to the rec list! Hurray! I needed the morale boost (it's finals week).
If you haven't already voted in the age poll, head on over and add yourself to the dataset now.
Today's poll gathers info about the DKos community members' gender, marital status, and sexual orientation.
Caveats: I apologize for limiting the categories to rather conventional ones. I have an aunt and "uncle" who have never married, but have been together for nearly 20 years. I know that some long-term relationships can be more meaningful and longer-lasting than marriage, but I only get 15 boxes in the poll, so I had to trim it down as much as possible. Also left out but not forgotten: transgender/transsexual individuals, polyandry and polygyny, platonic relationships, ... add yourself in the comments if you want, and I will try to add a handcount of additional categories.
I vacillated on where to put "formerly married" and decided, given the limits of the # of categories I could include, to poll for how many people have had the experience, at some time, of being married (rather than who, at present, is married). This is probably contrary to the usual standards of social science, but I am an anthropologist and a romantic, and I'm more interested in experience than status. It's better to have loved and lost, right? If you'd like to discuss the epistemology behind my decision, press me in the comments below.
Please use the comments to discuss your opinion on these issues, especially if you feel that none of these categories describe your identity or situation. I want to learn about alternative lifestyles (and I'll bet a lot of other Kossacks are open to listening too).
Also in the comments:
- What are some other topics you'd like to see for future polls?
- Do you think I should continue these over the weekend, or wait til Monday? Please tell me why.