We started with a clarification of terms. Scholars increasingly are using "male" and "female" when referring to sex, sexual practices and biology while "masculine" and "feminine" are reserved for qualities and roles.

Whether one is male or female is usually pretty clear although examples of hermaphrodism were mentioned. One member informed us that while the symbol of the hermaphrodite is quite sacred in many non Judeo Christian societies, any child so born was often destroyed by those same societies. Today medical and presumably metaphysical procedures can be undertaken to assign one or the other sex.

Mrs. Eddy has quite a lot to say about reproduction, particularly in the chapter "Genesis" of Science and Health. She shows that much of the generation in the plant and animal worlds does not require interaction between the genders—for instance, cell division. The methods for human generation shown in II Genesis include direct creation of Adam from dust, creation of Eve from Adam's rib, and creation of Cain and Abel via sexual intercourse. This manner of course still prevails with a number of innovative techniques to bring egg and sperm into proximity. Who can doubt that over time further refinements will revolutionalize the reproduction of humankind? Speaking from a spiritual basis Mrs. Eddy predicted the following: "Another change will come as to the nature and origin of man, and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence, reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact of creation, that both man and woman proceed from God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser parent," (Science and Health, p. 529:6-12).

A member then read a remarkable statement from Mrs. Eddy on the scientific significance of sexual intercourse. Not once does she mention reproduction in it, thus fully addressing the issue of what we'd call recreational, or perhaps relational, sex today. It is quoted on page 224 of The Blue Book or Course in Divinity. One of its most helpful aspects is the aid it gives in recovery from pursed lips. Here's a bit of it: "Mortals are struggling for completeness and hope to find it through sexual intercourse; when in fact this desire is simply a divine idea struggling to express itself in completeness. A recognition of this brings compassion....and conviction that there is no sin."

We then went on to a discussion of qualities and roles, represented by the words masculine and feminine. Some of the insights shared were as follows:

1) Each person has both masculine and feminine qualities which do not necessary;y line up with their biological sex. A masculine woman may live her femininity through relationship with a feminine man or woman.

2) If we expand the term gender to its more general sense of kind or class, it's difficult to say where homosexuality and heterosexuality differ. Everyone is attracted to elements that are different than their own perceived qualities but will seek to hold some variables constant. Thus a male and a female may want to have similar schooling, background, skin color, and age whereas a Gay couple may seek out and be turned on by such differences. In both cases there's a mixture of hetero and homo drives.

3) Adjectives like aggressive, logical, competitive, and goal oriented are applied to the masculine while passive, intuitive, soft, compliant and nurturing are applied to the feminine.

4) Masculinity seems the more prized of the genders, perhaps because in an unsafe world most people flock to strength and the perception of safety. This is particularly so in most institutions, which are run on masculine principles and behaviors. Soft and compliant men and women will find it essential to link up with strongly masculine institutions or persons, whether biological men or women, (see Science and Health, p. 20:2,  for Mrs. Eddy's comment on the worship of muscularity).

5) We talked of Amazon warriors and Queen Boediccea of Britain. These women were glorified as "men". There is much material in mythology representing strong feminine energy and this will need to be retrieved as we move beyond the suppressive blocks introduced by Judeo Christian notions of propriety.

6) Today is filled with indications that true feminine qualities are needed to manage the increasing complexities of the computer and communication age. Both men and women, now mesmerized with the swagger of the masculine, will have to engage in this work. Muscularity and logic may have to take a subsidiary role as subtlety, comprehensiveness and ability to relate take precedence. Such an unfoldment is in line with the revelations of Christian Science, which elevates the feminine to equality with the masculine by discerning God as Father-Mother and each person as the full reflection thereof: "The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity," (Science and Health, p. 517:10-14).

7) There is a great deal of help available in Science and Health for achieving balance in one's masculine and feminine qualities. We talked of Mrs. Eddy's brilliant deconstruction of the archetypes behind the angels Michael and Gabriel, (see p. 566: 29-13). "Michael's characteristic is spiritual strength," while "Gabriel has the more quiet task of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering love." Furthermore, the launching of Mary Magdalene's Christian Science practice (see pp. 362-364) shows a fine balance of feminine and masculine qualities.

8) There is currently a show at the Boston Fine Arts Museum on Akhnaten, the first monotheist and quite a revolutionary in the area of gender roles. He and his wife Nefertiti worshipped the one God, Aten; were regarded as quite equal on the throne; and were shown in paintings affectionately playing with their children. Later, after an apparent crisis in the monarchy — we're not clear just what happened — Nefertiti is shown as sole Pharaoh in one picture, flailing her enemies — a thoroughly masculine undertaking. Akhnaten apparently at the same time is shown in paintings distributed throughout the Empire locked in the spousal embraces of another man, Smenkare. These adventurous experiments were brought to an abrupt end by the orthodox priests of Amon and their military allies. But much of what Akhnaten and his coterie discovered are embodied in the thought of Moses. The Hymn to the Aten survives pretty fully in our Psalm 104. The show may also be seen in Los Angeles and Chicago in 2000.

9) We talked briefly of Susan Feludi's book Stiffed and the movie Fight Club both showing the dead end untempered masculinity has reached and the impotent rage associated with that. We noted with anticipation Ken Burns' PBS special Sunday and Monday nights on feminism, entitled "Not For Ourselves Alone".

By the end of the meeting we felt a need to move beyond masculinity and femininity to humanity and saw the topic Androgyny as a good vehicle. A member read from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 268: 24-14.