Eve And Adam: Genesis 2-3 Reread By Phyllis Trible

Throughout history, it is clear that men are usually seen to be advantaged by the logic of domination while females tend to be disadvantaged. Whether it be in the workplace, household, or even the bible men have always been inferior to women. Through history, cultural norms and stereotypes gender roles were created and have been present throughout society. Although it is believed that males are more advantaged than females the texts Eve and Adam: Genesis 2-3 Reread by Phyllis Trible and The Creation and Fall of Man and Woman explain how men and woman are in fact equal and maybe even disadvantaged by these cultural arrangements. Therefore, throughout history it is clear that gender discourses would allow one to believe that men are advantaged

by the logic of domination; while some aspects of this are correct they have tended to be over-exaggerated to the point where men might be disadvantaged by these views.

It is evident that men are often viewed as being superior or more important than females through a variety of different aspects. In the text, Eve and Adam:Genesis 2-3 Reread by Phyllis Trible, Trible discusses the story of Adam and Eve and how this biblical piece is what essentially created the gender roles that are presented in todays society. The first illustration of male dominance is seen when God creates the first human being which happens to be a man (Trible, 141). The males role is to to maintain the garden, take care of the animals and essentially be the one who is in charge (Trible, 141). A woman is only created in order to keep the male company and help him therefore, the woman takes on a secondary role while the man has the primary role clearly showing that men hold more power in society. Another clear example of male domination comes from the text, The Creation and Fall of Man and Woman by Rosemary Agonito states that the reasoning for gender differences is due to Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating from the tree of knowledge. When Adam and Eve make the chose to eat from the tree God gives them both

punishments for not listening to his wishes (Agonito, 139). These consequences however are both very different and show a clear distinction between how differently men and women are treated in society. God says to them, “Unto the woman..I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;in thy sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and the desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee” (Agonito, 139). These two punishment show how advantaged men are by the logic of domination. Both Adam and Eve committed the same sin yet Eve receives a much bigger punishment than Adam. It is extremely unfair that Eve has to be the one to bear children and become a slave to her husband while Adam gets to have total control and power over anything. This outlines the gender stereotypes that are seen throughout society and show how these discourses are culturally conditioned from what people read, learn and observe. For example, in the article Do Boys and Girls Act Differently in the Classroom? A Content Analysis of Student Characters in Educational Psychology Karen L. Yanowitz and Kevin J. Weathers discuss how it is impossible to avoid gender stereotypes in todays society. The authors examined children books and noticed that the males in the book were seen to have careers and work to support the family while the females were shown to be taking care of the children and doing household chores (Yanowitz, Weathers,101). This is a known stereotype that has been prevalent throughout history. People believe that males are more hardworking, smart, and goal orientated therefore they should work while the females stay home because females are known to be nurturing and caring (Yanowitz, Weathers,101). Even in the Genesis text the author explains how it is culturally conditioned for the husband to work and the wife to bear her children. When a women does choose to work they often chose to pursue a female oriented job like a teacher, nurse or social worker. On the other hand, males will pursue a job that shows there dominate and power for example jobs like , a police office, firefighter or business owner. Also, women often get paid less for doing the same amount of work as a man just because of their gender which is extremely unfair and shows how advantaged males are to the logic of domination. Although, males are often viewed as being more powerful than females one can also argue that men and w
woman are treated equally.
Many feminists argue that society has always been a male-dominated world while women have been discriminated and treated unfairly due to there gender.

Although, this statement is accurate at times people sometimes do not realize that men and woman are treated as equals in certain situations. In the Genesis story by Phyllis Trible, She discusses how people often view the story of Adam and Eve as male supremacy and female subordination but she explains how that statement is false and that both Adam and Eve are treated as equals (Trible,141). Throughout, the article Trible provides the readers with examples and statement to how Adam and Eve share equal equality. An example of equality between the two sexes is when God creates Eve out of Adams' rib, “This, at last, is bone of bone and flesh of my flesh, She shall be called ‘ishshah because she was taken out of ‘ish” ( Trible,142). God created the woman out of the man's rib rather than his feet or head because she wanted them to be in equal carrell with each other. The rib symbolizes them being side by side in a partnership rather than one being more advantaged than the other. Also, but the man and woman owe both there lives solely to God, although, the female was made from a man the reasoning she was created in the first place was due to God (Trible,142). Therefore, both sexes were created equally out of raw materials there were no differences in how they were brought into the world (Trible,142). Another example used in the

article was when Trible explains how they both feel after eating from the Gardner of temptation, “They are equal in responsibility and in judgment, in shame, and in guilt, in redemption and in grace” (Trible,143). This shows how males and females do share similar emotions. Often people think of males as being aggressive, emotionless, and tough and women to be nutting, sentimental and caring, but this text proves that is not the case. This quote explains that both genders do share similar characteristics, although they might show their emotions differently deep down everyone is born with similar characteristics.
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Men have also seen to be advantaged by the logic of domination but that statement can only be believed to a certain extend. Often males are disavangted and face gender stereotyping just as much as females. A clear example of this is through Tribbles article when she discusses why the serpent tempts the woman rather than the man she explains that it is due to their different personality traits (Trible,143). The story perceives Eve to be a smart independent woman who makes the decision to eat from the tree of knowledge. Eve ways out the pros and cons and thinks carefully about her decision; on the other hand Adam “follows his wife without question or comment, thereby denying his own individuality” (Trible,143). This quote shows how men are disavdgeted, the man is perceived to be a follower rather than a leader who is incapable of making his own decisions. Therefore, the male exhibits traits of being passive, and brutish (Trible,143). Although these charatictiics are unusual in a culture dominated by men it is important to stress the fact that men can often exhibit negative stereotypes demasculinize their sex. Also, the male is disadvantaged due to the fact that he was seen to need a woman to help and guide him because he could not do everything on his own. God made Eve be an equal for Adam but what when Eve decides to eat from the tree it shows she holds more power (Trible,141). It is often made clear that men need a woman in order to be stable and think rationally because males are often viewed as being aggressive and rationally. In the article, Do Boys and Girls Act Differently the researchers found that male students were portrayed with more negative characteristics rather than females (Yanowitz, Weathers,105). This proves that even though the male is advanced at many times often they are disadvantaged from not be rational thinkers and acting aggressively needed a woman too clam them down and take care of them.
It is clear that the logic of domination has a large impact on society and the people within. Often males and females are treated differently due to the interpretations and stereotypes that are given to them which creates gender equality in many aspects. Although males are often viewed as being advanced by the logic of domination there is plenty of time where they are actually discharged. Therefore, men are advanced by the logic of domination to a certain extent.