Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00400)

At 02:07 PM 5/7/96 -0400, you wrote:
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>On Sat, 4 May 1996 16:24:35 -0400 liesel f. deutsch wrote:
>
>>I interpret the ladies saying "man","he", to mean all humankind,
>>but they were so used to thinking of men as the big shots, as the
>>only ones who really counted, that they just automatically said
>>"he". I know that I still, to this day, when I hear about a person
>>in charge, an authority figure, automatically picture the person
>>as a man. As for instance, our head building maintenance mechanic
>>is retiring, & I heard that he was being replaced by a woman. My
>>first reaction was "A woman can't do that job!" Very
>>automatically, very ingrained. I think it's more that which we
>>find in the older literature. Women just didn't count for much in
>>the way of authority, and so even they tended to think of
>>"humanity" as "man".
>
>Liesel and all others,
>
>My comment had been fairly extreme, I admit, but I wanted to
>express the feeling coming on me when reading the "message behind
>the words" of earlier female (occult, esoteric) authors.  You have
>articulated that message wonderfully above.  It is a subtle, almost
>unconscious orientation towards the position that females are "less
>than".  I guess, when it comes to people as spiritual beings
>relating to each other down here I have never seen myself, though
>female, as "less than" in any way.  Therefore, I don't see any
>other females that way either.  But I recognize, alas, that among
>females seeing this way is distinctly in the minority.
>
>Virginia
>
Virginia:

My Mother, who is 90 years old (May 4th) has had a long and successful
career (she was a magazine editor) and to the best I can figure out she
always felt that men where inherently inferior to women except in things
mechanical. She grew up in an age were women were oppressed but she just
never allowed herself to BE oppressed. By the way if you lived here in
Northern California, you'd see that "the times they are a changin" and the
women who think of themselves as fully equal (if not more so) are hardly a
minority. America's social changes would appear to "percolate" from the
"edges inwards". Of course, that's my experience, except for my many years
in Europe, I've spent my whole life either on one coast or the other. My
Mother calls this "Bi-Coastalism".

alexis d.
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