Abstract
Secret societies, past and present, have been organized around esoteric lore and shared interests.' They have usually been single-sexed. Modern professions are somewhat like secret societies. Each is organized for preserving and extending a particular esoteric knowledge and for protecting the common interests of its members. Each has tended to be single-sexed. In the United States some professions, such as dentistry, continue to be mainly male because of the aura of masculinity that pervades the occupational duties. The aura endures in part because whatever is mainly done by men is considered masculine. It endures also because the skills and knowledge behind the duties are not apparent and therefore are not open to appraisal in this and other respects. Dentistry in the United States may take its maleness for granted. Reasonably so, it has never been seriously threatened. The woman who decides to become a dentist is still extremely rare. The number of women dentists in the United States is uncertain.
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