History Has No Gender

   History is a set of stories people tell each other about their past, usually dealing with their own culture and society, and its victories over others. It describes society's past, as reflected in the interplay of politics and economics, as well as the interaction of various groups.
   In that context, history is written by the winners. The losing society's story is included, but only to help justify the actions of the winners. And if the defeated group's story is deemed unimportant or irrelevant, that story is omitted from the standard history compiled by the winners.
   It becomes the responsibility, then, of the defeated group to keep their stories alive, by maintaining the culture and values of the group, retelling them to each new generation. And it falls to the winners to acknowledge that the minority group's culture retains its own validity, regardless of its social status. This way, the culture, its language and values remain vibrant even as the minority group survives within the dominant society.
   This principle applies to all, regardless of race, religion, culture, language or gender. Unfortunately, some activists forget this principle, and attach new meanings to old words in their zeal to change attitudes. One example was the effort by a few extremists in the feminist movement to change "history" to "herstory." The word "history" has no gender; it comes from the French "histoire," which means simply "story."
   I know, the French word "histoire" has a masculine gender, but that's grammatical gender, and has nothing to do with sex.