Alienation Myths and Women
Negative
Portrayals of Women in World Religions
TYPES
OF MYTHS
1. ORIGIN/CREATION myths
Genesis, Gaia
2. ALIENATION myths
Noah’s flood, Adam and Eve
3. END-TIME myths (the end of the world!)
Apocalypse now!! (Millennialism)
4. SALVATION or LIBERATION (heros)
Alienation Myths
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Alienation myths answer a variety of profound life
questions:
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Why do human beings suffer?
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If God is all good and all powerful, what is the
source of evil?
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Who, ultimately, is responsible for death,
suffering, insecurity, and change in life?
Alienation Myths in the Judeo-Christian
Tradition
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Alienation myths: explain human separation from the
divine
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The Fall (Gen. 3:1-24) Eve falls for the serpent’s
temptation (nature is suspect)
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Adam wants to be God, but the Creator cannot and
will not yield his unlimited authority to His creation
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Disobedience = Divine displeasure
Alienation Myths in the Judeo-Christian
Tradition
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Theodicy = an explanation for evil and suffering in
the world
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Eve, the first woman, is implicated in the process
by which evil and suffering become part of human experience
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Subsequent myths, then, become androcentric = Salvation
myths; Myths of liberation; apocalyptic or end-time myths
Alienation Myths
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Since “religion” is grounded in myth, patriarchal
cultures use religion to justify their negative treatment of women.
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Women are complicit in the causes of human
suffering.
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Women are portrayed as archetypes for chaos,
evil, and instability.
Traditional African Religions
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Ashanti alienation myth = an aggressive woman was
the cause of separation between God and human beings.
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Banyarwanda alienation myth = death is blamed on a
woman; because a women “hid death from God,” all human beings must die, all
must experience loss and grief.
Hinduism
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Hinduism does not
each an alienation myth that denigrates women.
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However, knowledge of
the sacred Hindu texts is a prerequisite for humans to escape the endless cycle
of rebirth and enter moksha (liberation).
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Since only men could
read the sacred texts, women were doomed to rebirth until they could build up
enough merit to return as a man.
Confucianism
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Confucian philosophy
is centered on harmonious relationships “on earth as it is in heaven.”
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Man represents the
heavens and is superior to woman who represents earth.
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The cosmos runs
efficiently when women willingly serve their husbands.
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Women’s subservient
roles were sanctified by the writings of Confucius, which were
considered sacred.
Judaism
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Adam and Eve: the woman, Eve, is blamed for giving
in to temptation and bringing evil into the world.
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She bore an additional punishment since she
succumbed to temptation first.
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She would submit to Adam in all things.
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This became the justification for patriarchal rule,
which exists today.
Greek Religion
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Pandora alienation
myth: going against divine
instructions, Pandora opened a box that released famine, war, disease, crime,
and death upon the world.
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The blame was put on
woman for being curious, sensual, and disobedient.
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Zeus created Pandora
to blame her for evil and to punish humans for receiving the gift of fire from
Prometheus.
Christianity
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Christians share the Adam and Eve alienation myth
but mythically transform the serpent into the Devil.
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The apostle Paul affirms the hierarchical order of
God over man and man over woman.
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Women are not to teach or have authority over men.
Tertulian, 2nd Century Church
Leader, on women…
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“You are the Devil’s gateway. You are the unsealer of the forbidden
tree. You are the first deserter of the
divine law. You are she who persuaded
him whom the Devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily, God’s image, man. On account of your desert, that is death,
even the Son of God had to die.” de
Cult Fem 1.1
Islam
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Muslims believe the
Quran is the divinely revealed word of Allah (God).
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“Men have authority
over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they
spend their wealth to maintain them.
Good women are obedient. They
guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience,
admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” Surah 2:221-222
WOMEN’S RESPONSES TO ALIENATION MYTHS
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Humans have always
needed to cope with the trials and tribulations of existence
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The change from
paradise to separation from the divine is accompanied by evil
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Cross-culturally,
many myths blame women for the introduction of evil
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Women need to “take back”
the power of the mythic dimension! -
mythic empowerment!
From Myth to Law
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Oppressive actions
towards women were sacralized by scripture then codified in law.
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Encoded into law =
the Hindu Code of Manu, the Jewish Mishnah, the Islamic Shariah.
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Suttee = in Hinduism,
a wife throws herself on her husband’s burning bier so he’ll be happier in the
next life (still happens today!).
Greece: Aristotle on Women
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Male gods are superior to the goddesses; men are to
women
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The power of reproduction belongs to the male = the
semen contains the soul; woman only contributes matter
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The perfect child would be male
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The imperfect child would be female
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Female = “a multilated male.”
CREATIVE RESPONSES
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Hinduism = the path of bakhti or devotion
bypassed a “male birth”
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Judaism = conservative and reformed branches
overcame the exemption rule; gained leadership roles in the Temple
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Islam = women are caught today between traditional
Islamic practices and the intrusion of Western values - the veil
CREATIVE RESPONSES
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Christianity = Greek philosophy (ontological
dualism) greatly influences the cultural birth place of Christianity
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Women overcame discrimination by heading monasteries
as abbesses
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Mary became a key mythic role model
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Protestant women led movements for abolition of
slavery and social reform
Creative Responses
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The Radical response:
women join or even create alternative spiritual movements; wicca,
neo-paganism, Ramtha School of Enlightenment
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The Reconstructionist/Reformist
response: women struggle within traditional religion to rid the religion of the
patriarchal virus:
– Intellectual struggle
– Social, cultural, or political struggle