The Man-Made World; Or, Our Androcentric Culture Large Print

Let us begin, inoffensively, with sheep. The sheep is a beast with which we are allfamiliar, being much used in religious imagery; the common stock of painters; astaple article of diet; one of our main sources of clothing; and an everyday symbolof bashfulness and stupidity.In some grazing regions the sheep is an object of terror, destroying grass, bushand forest by omnipresent nibbling; on the great plains, sheep-keeping frequentlyresults in insanity, owing to the loneliness of the shepherd, and the monotonousappearance and behavior of the sheep.By the poet, young sheep are preferred, the lamb gambolling gaily; unless it be inhymns, where "all we like sheep" are repeatedly described, and much stress is laidupon the straying propensities of the animal.To the scientific mind there is special interest in the sequacity of sheep, theirhabit of following one another with automatic imitation. This instinct, we are told, has been developed by ages of wild crowded racing on narrow ledges, alongprecipices, chasms, around sudden spurs and corners, only the leader seeing when, where and how to jump. If those behind jumped exactly as he did, they lived. If theystopped to exercise independent judgment, they were pushed off and perished;they and their judgment with th