Mouritz's response to STAT Council statement on Alexander's writings

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Mouritz <jmofischer@mouritz.co.uk> dim. 11 juil. 2021 à 12:21

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Mouritz Newsletter July 2021 View this email in your browser

Mouritz's response to STAT Council statement on Alexander's writings

STAT Council sent the following email to all its members Friday (9 July 2021), providing
recommendations regarding the use of Alexander’s books. It is here quoted in full followed
by my comments:

Alexander was a pioneer of psychophysical unity and gifted our professional community a
powerful set of insights and practices. His early writings are also full of some of the less
enlightened attitudes of his time. Writing them today would verge on committing hate crimes!

Because we know how powerful Alexander’s techniques are, and, because we have an affection
for the profound changes they have brought in our lives and those of our clients, we as Alexander
teachers can easily transfer that affection to his writing. By overlooking difficult passages in the
same way, we might forgive a much loved grandfather for being ‘so out of touch’. Therefore this is
a recommendation from STAT Council to be far more critical in our use of Alexander’s writings.  

Sharing Alexander’s books requires serious health warnings. We have a professional duty to warn
clients that, although Alexander’s writing may be interesting for historical reasons, many of the
views expressed, particularly about race, women, and other nationalities, are unacceptable and
could be psychologically harmful for some readers. Conversely, if we uncritically promote
Alexander’s books we will be promoting what the Crown Prosecution Service could regard as hate
speech!  

The concept of hate speech is controversial for those who prize freedom of speech. Indeed, many
government documents acknowledge the delicate balance that needs to be struck between
freedom of speech and the causing of harm to others. Without entering into this complex debate, it
is clear to STAT Council that because something is nuanced legally, it should not deter us from
being clear professionally. For a professional teacher of the Alexander Technique, any hint of
condoning racist or other discriminatory views is unacceptable. For most clients it would, rightly,
cast doubt on a teacher’s credibility and perhaps that of our whole profession. Other pupils may
be harmed, emotionally and psychologically, by any failure to exercise our duty of care. 

As a consequence, STAT Council:

1. Urges teachers and training schools to be extremely careful in their use of Alexander’s
books and, at the very least, reclassify them as ‘Historical’.
2. Will insert clear warnings in stocks of the books we currently distribute and when
republishing call for volunteer editors to remove offensive passages.
3. Will write to publishers of Alexander’s writings to inform them of our views and suggest
they, at the very least, add clear warnings to Alexander’s books.
4. Will write formally to ask ATAS [the Affiliated Societies of the Alexander Technique] to
support us in these requests.

STAT Council

Mouritz's comments on the above STAT Council statement

1.

I (Jean Fischer) wrote an article in 1989, ‘F. M. Alexander and evolution’, which listed and
examined some of Alexander’s offensive passages in Man’s Supreme Inheritance (MSI). I
was blunt about how racist some of these passages were. (Published in Direction vol. 1 no.
6, 1990, and in Direction vol. 1 no. 7, 1991.)

2.

In 1995 I proposed at the STAT AGM an anti-discrimination clause, stating (among others)
that “it is the belief and policy of the Society that the theory and practice of the Alexander
Technique does not discriminate against race, nationality, colour, creed, gender, sexual
orientation, political affiliation, marital status or disability”. It was defeated by the
membership. I re-submitted the proposal at the 1996 AGM. Again it did not receive a
majority of votes. AmSAT issued its own statements, including disassociating itself from
particular passages in MSI. (Years later STAT Council adopted a general, i.e. not
specifically related to the AT, anti-discrimination clause, bypassing the membership.) At the
upcoming 2021 AmSAT AGM some members are proposing motions to update AmSAT’s
statements on Alexander’s writings.

3.

I removed a particularly offensive passage in the 1996 Mouritz edition of MSI (which I
mentioned in my “A Note on the Text” in this MSI). A 1997 review, published in The
Alexander Journal No. 15, was scathing about this kind of editing. As Mouritz only received
criticism for its editing, the next edition of MSI will be unexpurgated. (The review is
available to read here: https://mouritz.co.uk/09searchdetail.php?idno=ALE996PE0).

4.

Before publishing a Kindle edition of MSI earlier this year I wrote (4 May) to both STAT
Council and the AmSAT Board asking for any statements they had made regarding racism
and/or offensive passages in Alexander’s writings. I had gone through both their websites
and old documents and found some statements but asked whether these were the most
up to date statements. I told them it was for the purpose of including in the Kindle edition
of MSI some reference to these statements. I received no reply from either STAT or AmSAT.
(Having received no reply from STAT or AmSAT I inserted my own disclaimer into the
Kindle MSI edition.)

5.

The above STAT Council statement applies to all of Alexander’s writings. To the best of my
knowledge nobody has complained about offensive passages in The Use of the Self and
The Universal Constant in Living. Mouritz would be grateful to receive a listing of such
passages. The STAT statement is also singling out Alexander’s early writings. Again
Mouritz would be grateful to receive a listing of any passages in the pre-1910 writings
which, according to STAT, “would verge on committing hate crimes!”

6.

Mouritz listens and engages with its readers. Recently (April 2021) it conducted an
informal survey on the use of the nick-name for a position of mechanical advantage,
‘monkey’, in order to gauge the opinion among AT teachers and students regarding its
usage and any potential alternatives for this term. This was for the purpose of informing
future publications by Mouritz.

7.

Friday’s email from STAT Council to all members is the first time STAT Council is
addressing – albeit indirectly – Mouritz on the subject of Alexander’s writings. Mouritz will
continue to listen to its readers worldwide and welcomes feedback while acknowledging
that each country and culture will have different approaches to dealing with potentially
offensive material in Alexander’s writings. (Professional translators will of course be
equipped to engage in a culturally sensitive translation of Alexander’s books.)
Jean M. O. Fischer, 11 July 2021

Mouritz was set up in England in 1995 by Jean M. O. Fischer. He now teaches in

Graz, Austria. www.atstudio.at/gb/

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