Yes, they are, but it does not discredit the Talmud as a history source for evidence of the customs of the time. Quoting myself at 112, "it would be right to point out that neither of the rabbis' opinions was without controversy. But if we were to use the passage to assert that, for example, some women were hairdressers in those days, we would be correct in our assertion, regardless of anything else that passage says."