Theos-Talk Archives (October 1996 Message tl00685)

In message <3272D6EB.13B7@sprynet.com>, Bart Lidofsky
<bartl@sprynet.com> writes
>       I have a number of problems with Leadbeater, but I don't recall him
>admitting to child abuse (nothing was ever proven, in my recollection,
>and the only thing that was probably true was that he participated in a
>"circle jerk", at a time when it was considered standard behavior for
>English schoolteachers to teach their male charges about masturbation.
>For information about earlier that century, read TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS,
>and realize that "fagging" for an upperclassman included performing
>fellatio, which is why "fag" became slang for a homosexual.

Depends how you look at it.  A fag who is compelled under duress (which
is the truth of the situation) to perform acts of fellatio is a victim
of child abuse - as no doubt was his upperclassman in his own day.
SFAIK most of those affected and still living were in Australia, which
is how Gregory Tillet was able to get so much info for his book, "The
Elder Brother," being himself an inhabitant of Sydney with interests in
the LCC.  Reading between the lines, there seems to be good reason to
suspect that some of these men are or were still traumatised by their
experiences.

It is all thoroughly documented.  Some of the info (which includes newly
discovered material) can be found in CWL.ZIP which should be in

http://www.nellie2.demon.co.uk/DIRECTORY/HISTORY/

There is also further material in the 1908 "Theosophic Voice" published
in Chicago (I have a DTP file of Issue 1, which contains some of the
information current at the time).  JHE also has a great deal of
historical info, so don't be surprised if he chips in on this one.

Alan
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