Theos-Talk Archives (November 1996 Message tl00118)

        Kym writes
>> >  But i personally support the original term "brotherhood". Annie
>>> >Besant, who herself fighted for equal rights for women, never tried
>>> >to replace it by some other term.
>

Before I became aware of what I was doing, I thought of anyone of any kind
of importance as "he". This, I think came from the fact that while I was
growing up, the men were the important ones. My mother catered to my father,
and my younger brother got to doing a lot of the nice things that didn't
come my way. Like he went to camp, we couldn't affford 2 campers; he got
trained in Art, whereas I was just a girl and nobody even realized that I
had any talent, etc. etc. I was going to get married anyway, and run a
household. So very unconsciously when I talked of someone of importance, it
was "he". If you'll note AB's writings, she does the same thing. She's not
being prejudiced. It's just that this was ingrained. In her day, too,
important people were "he". Annie Besant wanted to be important, and
identified herself with "he", just aas I did a few generations later. She
*did* fight for women's rights. She's the one who got a divorce & would
tolerate being subjugated. She's the one who championed the girls in the
match factory, and who championed birth control. I'm not denying that, but
her every day mindset was as described above. I'm convinced of it. Just have
a look at her writings.

Liesel