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| Eve/ La Malinche by Salas, E. (2021) |
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| Eve/ La Malinche by Salas, E. (2021) |
Every March 8 marks the International Women's Day, a date that, more than a celebration, is an occasion to reflect on the femicides, discrimination and violence faced by women in all areas.
What it's "femicide"? It's the murder of a woman for reasons of gender.
Since the beginning of the times, women have been unfairly stroked out as villains through misogynist, speeches/ ideas. And boosted by -some- religions, women have been seen as "an object that needs to be punished".
In modern days, some countries like mine, Mexico, women are still seen not only as inferior, but in several cases, are dehumanized and the consequences of this it's the sad statistics: 10 women are murdered daily in Mexico alone.
But what are the origins of this gender violence and misogyny?
In the pre-Roman era, Egyptians have some of the greatest female monarchs in history, and their religion enhanced cult to goddesses such as Isis.
Greek society and religion had similar views: Athena, the goddess of wisdom shared throne in the Mount Olympus with Zeus, the father of all gods.
So when did men take over and women were pushed?
There is evidence of misogyny in classical Greek writings: Aristotle considered women "not as equals", but as incomplete, deformed males.
On the other hand, there is the issue of settling down and the necessity of splitting roles for tasks. There is evidence that Native Americans lived in an equal-role hunter society, but the European influence might have altered this order.
Influenced by the tale of Adam & Eve, which is soaked in sexism: Christianism's bases are constructed on misogyny and classism. Eve, is one of the Biblical characters that is the most misunderstood, as the whole book is tainted with machismo and a controlled vision, Eve is one of the Bible’s women who is severe punished for choosing herself instead of God's or "her man's will".
According to the Gnostics, Eve it’s the third woman created by God to be company of Adam, and as being created from his rib, Eve was completely submissive and docile. However, the snake did not tempt her, it told her she will see beyond of what she sees in the present. Furthermore, the snake was not mentioned as “the devil” (even in the Old Testament) until the edition of the Bible in the centuries after. Perhaps, this “temptation” was merely Eve’s choice to knowledge.
Christianism is not the only religion endorsing this, but also Islam: Chapter 4, Line 34 of the Quran instructs "a husband to beat his rebellious wife until she obeys his commands".
The truth is that there is no single and accurate origin of misogyny, but in 2022, it should be a piece of obsolete history. F'ck patriarchy! The future it's equality.
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