I definitely think that — I actually think that Catholic school — girls-only Catholic school actually has influenced and affected my stance on women, and increased my feminist attitudes, because without trying to be too political about it, and overt about the ideas of feminism, the nuns were always proposing the notion that women don’t really need men to get things done, and that women are more — they’re disciplined, their capabilities, their creativity is profound, and that they’re capable of profound things without the help of men. ((Bertrand Russell, Education, Take You Into Other Worlds, Worst Misogynists)) And in a way, when you think about the virgin birth that’s encapsulated in that one narrative, the idea that this young girl got pregnant, conceived without a man, and bore the son of Christ — as the son of God, excuse me, Christ. ((Mother Earth, Radical Jesus, Salary Of Both, Three Holy Books)) So, even that idea is, I think, very much — I don’t know if it’s meant to be — it was meant to, I guess, in a way show that Mary was a virgin, she was pure, and that was the original reason, but I think there’s something about the way the nuns functioned, and you could feel this sense that we can — we can do anything here.

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