The issue of ‘universal brotherhood’ gets misunderstood very easily. Though it’s part of our objects, I find that it is easily misunderstood.
Why do we disagree then?
Well, being members of the theosophical Society doesn’t mean we are infallible, all knowing angels. As human beings we are bound to disagree. As long as those disagreements get fought out in decent ways, the TS is not in trouble.
Why do members get expelled?
Brotherhood can only be attempted, among human beings, if the atmosphere is kept as clean as possible. People who threaten others, are dishonest or plain annoying can be expelled. I find that usually theosophists give such people ample chance to change – and if there are reasons beyond their control why they are like that, they may be tolerated indefinitely.
Why is it brotherhood – not sisterhood or something gender-neutral?
The term brotherhood became popular in the French Revolution (Liberté, égalité, fraternité). At that time gender-neutral language hadn’t been invented yet. In fact, it is only since the late 1960’s that people have seriously attempted to write everything as gender neutral as possible. The Theosophical Society was ahead of its time in the late 19th century to even attempt brotherhood without regard to sex, race or religion (and a few other things) – but sometimes being ahead of the curve means being behind the curve later on. We have not yet found a reformulation of the objects that is in fact totally gender neutral – but the intention IS gender neutral.
The gender problem with the word “brotherhood” is present in English, but not in other languages, like Spanish, for example. In that language “brother” is “hermano”, “sister” is “hermana” (only the last letter changes) and brotherhood is “hermandad” (no gender specified, the suffix “-dad” being like the English “-ness”). We also commonly used the word “fraternidad” (instead of “hermandad”) that has not gender specification as well. I think there is no such a problem in Portuguese, Italian and French either, but I’m not sure.
Fraternidad (which seems very related to the French fraternite) IS gender specific – at least etymologically (related to brother). I’ll leave it to you whether it is USED gender-neutrally, but the problem here isn’t the use. After all – brotherhood has been used gender neutrally as well – as in our objects.
The point is that gender neutral language helps change peoples perceptions. When we start talking about CEO’s as ‘her’, it becomes easier to actually envision a woman in that position (still very rare in The Netherlands).
I tried convincing the Germans they had a perfectly fine way of dealing with this: changing the term ‘Bruderschaft’ into ‘Geschwistershaft’ or something – but they told me that wasn’t an option. Geschwister is their word for the relationship between siblings of any sex.
I probably should leave language to the speakers of it – still, I do think this is a serious issue. Language influences how people think – so it’s important to use the right words.
Katinka,
Yes, “frater” is the latin word for “brother”, but that is unknown to most people in my country.
In fact, both the words “fraternidad” and “hermandad” are feminine in Spanish, although they are used to include both sexes.
I agree words affect the way we think, generally, but sometimes the problem is more cultural than objective.
For example, every “concrete noun” in Spanish is either masculine of feminine. We don’t have the word “parents”, for example. When referring to both, father and mother, we say “fathers” (and that is the rule, the plural masculine includes the feminine).
In my country, however, there is not gender problem with words, at all. And I don’t think we are a country that diminishes the value of women. In fact, our current President is a woman (and the main candidate in the other party, was another woman).
But I’m sure that in a few years, when the “fashion” of questioning the gender in words reaches Argentina, we will perceive that problems in our words.
Now the question is: is that problem a real one, or it was created by the very questioning the words?
Well – I have to bow to your knowledge of Spanish, as mine is nonexistent. Generally speaking though – it has been shown that the words people use impart the way they think. The grammatical system people use influences the way they think. This is mostly unconscious, but still.
But we are getting off topic here, so I’ll leave it at that.
Yes. Nevertheless I agree with the general ideas of words shaping the way we perceive things in many cases.