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Gender roles in ancient civilizations
Gender roles in ancient civilizations
Gender roles in ancient civilizations
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Recommended: Gender roles in ancient civilizations
Kylie Puttkamer
English 252
April 7, 2017 Women, Gender Roles, and Sexuality as Revealed in the Old Testament
The topic of sex, sexuality, and gender in the Old Testament is a topic that is getting more traction in recent days due to the rise in feminism. The social changes that came with the women’s liberation movement over the last few decades have led to much confusion when it comes to understanding a woman’s place in the Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible serves as a guide that provides basic definitions for gender and the roles of men and women in society. In the Old Testament women were viewed as lesser than her male counterpart. The body or virginity of a woman was viewed as property of her father, her slave owner, or her husband; the
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This was a story I never learned about in church on Sunday. The Levite’s concubine tells another story about a woman who is viewed as property. Both virgin daughters and concubines are property to be used at will by her father or master to “entertain” male guests. This story is a good example of how the marriage system worked in this time. After further research I discovered that a concubine is more of a secondary or side wife. The purpose of having a concubine was to produce more children or just to give her husband/master sexual pleasure. A question I thought about many times when analyzing the story is why the man of the house decided to offer the women instead of his male guest. The master was more than willing to give the women and their dignity as a sacrifice for the protection of a male guest. The sexual exploitation and violation of a woman seemed to be significantly less shameful than if it were a man being sexually exploited or abused. This is yet another example of the misogynistic culture that was a sad and terrible reality for these …show more content…
Ruth goes against gender norms at the time in order to provide for herself and her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth listens to instruction from Naomi to sleep with a well-off man named Boaz. Boaz and Ruth soon after get married and have children and it seems like a happily-ever-after kind of moment. The two women in the story take initiative and by doing that, they are taking on more of a male role. Once Ruth and Naomi are successful in reaching their goal, the narrator swiftly moves to foreclose on any stresses regarding the mixing of gender roles by returning the women to a clear-cut patriarchal society. Here on out, both Ruth and Naomi don’t speak and the story continues after returning to the public world of men, negotiating both land and
She connects stories of different multicultural relationships between a man and a woman, and then continues on to compare the women and men from each story to each other. Social class is also mentioned in the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was very wealthy and Ruth was found in his fields taking food for Naomi and herself. Traditionally, an individual that is born into a family of wealthiness is able to take care of their loved one- which is what Boaz does for Ruth after
Slaves during the mid-1800s were considered chattel and did not have rights to anything that opposed their masters’ wishes. “Although the slaves’ rights could never be completely denied, it had to be minimized for the institution of slavery to function” (McLaurin, 118). Female slaves, however, usually played a different role for the family they were serving than male slaves. Housework and helping with the children were often duties that slaveholders designated to their female slaves. Condoned by society, many male slaveholders used their female property as concubines, although the act was usually kept covert. These issues, aided by their lack of power, made the lives of female slaves
McKeating, Henry. “Sanctions Against Adultery in Ancient Israelite Society with Some Reflection on Methodology in the Study of Old Testament Ethics.” Journal for the Study of the OldTestament. Vol. XVII (Mar. 1979).
The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
Medieval Jewish society, like all traditional Jewish culture, was run by patriarchal hierarchy “Philosophical, medical, and religious views of the time all supported the view that men were superior to women both in nature and in deed” . Women’s position in society was secondary in comparison to that of men. They were characterized as lightheaded, weak, easily seduced, and linked to sorcery.
In Women, Church, God: A Socio-Biblical Study, Caleb Rosado uses a socio-biblical approach to discuss the role of women in the church today and how they were treated in the Bible, during the patriarchal times. Rosado looks at the connection between what people believe now, their culture, and how they treat women in regards to how one perceives God. This book contains ten chapters in which several topics are discussed, including the nature of God, the treatment of women in the Bible, patrimonialism, servitude, and servanthood.
Since the biblical days, society was very structural with the role of the “Man” and the “Woman.” This concept came to be known as the term gender roles, referring to the significant differences between men and women due to an established role and expectation created by society itself. Society’s expectations of the man’s character were assertiveness, analytical, and unemotional. These characteristics, collectively, coin the term masculine for men. And society’s expectations of the woman’s character were sensitivity, nurturing, and emotional, which together coined the term feminine. Along with the standards of feminine and masculine came responsibilities both the man and the woman. The male had economic responsibilities and the female had domestic
We are all familiar with the creation story in Genesis of the Bible—a rib was taken from Adam (man) in order to create Eve (woman). Did this set the tone for women’s submissive role in society? History shows us that this is not true, since women dating as far back as the 6th century had power and were taken seriously. Strong women, such as Perpetua of Carthage, used their faith as a means of helping others and asserting their power in a male-dominated culture. As the years went on, though, women experienced a loss of power and control. A woman’s worth was directly associated with h...
In the household codes of the New Testament the traditional patriarchal social order is reaffirmed, not simply for secular society, but for Christian community. The concept that children are to obey their parents, wives their husbands and slaves their masters is restated in no fewer than five places in the New Testament: Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Titus, and 1 Peter. Conversely all subjugated persons can be viewed as relations of wives to husbands, children to father, and servants to masters. Patriarchalism refers to the total structure of society in all theses types of relations of domination and subjugation; sons to father, wives to husband, and slaves to masters. Also, there is delegated domination and subjugation within the paternal
When I think of sex in the context of the Hebrew Bible, I immediately reflect on how I was first taught about sex. Sex was synonymous with sin, especially premarital sex which was an abhorable. Further I also consider how sex within the institution of marriage is not sin, which implies sex as the act is not inherently immoral, but rather an act, which as the Hebrew Bible suggests, should be reserved for marriage. Husband and wife are permitted to have sex whenever they please as their privilege and duty. Sex is intended procreation. However, I am often puzzled by the contradictory messaging of gendered sexual agency and sexual identity written in the Hebrew Bible. Men are given sexual agency. They are allowed and at times expected to have polygamous sexual relationships: wives, concubines, and prostitutes.
The story of Lucretia begins with men boasting about their wives, trying to determine who is the best of them all. It is clear to them that Lucretia is the winner when she is found “hard at work by lamplight upon her spinning” (Livy, 100). She then moves on to be a gracious host to all of these men, again showing success in her womanly duties. Later that night one of the visitors, Sextus Tarquinis, comes into her room, and forces himself upon her, telling her that if she does not comply he will make it look like she had an affair with on of the servants (Livy, 101). She yields to him because she does not want it to seem as if she had an affair and n...
Despite the patriarchal society from the biblical days, God is taught as being just as much a Mother as God is a Father (102). The willful ignorance of religious scholars of the time just show that they were making a conscious effort of trying to keep women from retaining any power that they had. This relegation of religious roles in an effort to keep Men in power is a poor example of how Christianity is a religion which promotes for the love and care of all people, no matter their status. The interpretation of God from these times clash severely with my notions of what is now considered to be an all-loving entity. Women of these times were obviously not equal to their male counterparts. In modern days however, women are thought of as equals in society. The problem is that they are still not being treated as equals in a religious aspect as well as many other aspects.
In this text Mitzi Smith, an African American woman, provides a womanist interpretation of the biblical ‘virgin-whore binary’. In hopes to recover the true essence of womanhood through God’s perspective the author explains that women, “should reject altogether the labeling and construction of women as virgins and whores (and their synonyms) [as] it tied to ideas of manhood.” Smith surveys the impact that this derogatory language has had on the creation and sustenance of the (black) female(‘s) identity; and suggests that women rebel against the clout of injustice that these terms have inflicted upon them. (3 sentence answer)
Shapira, Amnon. “ON WOMAN'S EQUAL STANDING IN THE BIBLE—A SKETCH: A FEMINIST RE-READING OF THE HEBREW BIBLE: A TYPOLOGICAL VIEW.” Hebrew Studies, vol. 51, 2010, pp. 7–42. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27913961.
Scholz, S. (2014). Feminist Scholarship on the Old Testament: Introduction. Available: http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0020.xml. Last accessed 19th March 2014.