About This Issue

One of the articles in Gender (IC#16)
Originally published in Spring 1987 on page 1
Copyright (c)1987, 1997 by Context Institute

What has become of our sense of gender?

What, today, does it mean to be a woman or a man?

In this issue we take a mid-course appraisal of these age-old questions, looking at where the experience of the past two decades has brought us as we have all tried to adjust to a world in which women’s lives no longer automatically center around motherhood and men’s lives no longer center around physical strength.

What we have found is complex and rich, and not easily reduced to slogans. We doubt you will agree with all of it (we don’t either), but we hope you will find it as fascinating as we have.

This issue was blessed with the help of two guest editors: Rick Gossett and Lila Forest.

Rick was a guest editor for the "Friends & Lovers" issue (#10). He is a Pastoral Counselor and Methodist minister and has been actively involved with both men’s and women’s groups during the past years. He lives in La Conner, Washington where his current excitement is around large community seasonal celebrations. He is currently working on a Summer Solstice event and a week-long gathering in early August (Teltane) to be focused on gender and spiritual growth.

Lila agreed to guest edit this issue more than a year ago, before she joined the IN CONTEXT staff as an associate editor. She brings to it her background as a computer programmer, a Unitarian minister, a founder of an intentional community, a counselor, and extensive work with dreams and massage.