The "Dangers" of Female Sexuality and Expression

When we look back at much of Western civilization, the subjugation of women has been closely tied to the desire to control female sexuality. Within the Western framework, masculinity is often associated with rationality while femininity is viewed as chaotic and emotional. This dichotomy has colored the interactions between the sexes for millennia, including linguistic characteristics. 

One of the earliest literary associations of female sexuality with danger is that of Circe in The Odyssey. Within the text, Circe is a sorceress, who turns Odysseus’ men into swine after feasting them. Hermes helps Odysseus avoid a similar fate as well as castration by warning him of the possible treachery of Circe when he accepts her invitation to bed. While Odysseus only spends a year with Circe as her lover, it was not the first female that uses her sexuality to ensnare the “hero.” He spends seven years on the island of Ogygia with the sea nymph, Calypso, nearly forgetting his faithful wife, Penelope. 

When we look at the text of the Bible, a work that has influenced much of the Western literary tradition, we can also see the depiction of women colored by this need to subjugate and control female sexuality. Much of this goes back to the idea of original sin and Eve. Much of the Judeo-Christian tradition interprets the account in Genesis of Adam’s eating of the forbidden fruit as the fault of Eve. While Eve was tempted by the serpent, it was Eve who first ate the fruit and then encouraged Adam to also partake. 

Later in the Old Testament, there is perhaps the most “famous” account of the wicked woman, Jezebel. She is the wife to Ahab and worshipper of Baal. In the Book of Kings, she is responsible for the abandonment of the worship of Yahweh in favor of worship of Baal and Asherah. Jezebel used her influence as Ahab’s wife to forward her own religious preferences. As part of this, she fabricated evidence of blasphemy against a landowner who had refused to sell his property to her husband and persecuted prophets of Yahweh. For all of her transgressions, she was thrown out of a palace window by her own court, and then her body was left to be eaten by stray dogs. The term, “Jezebel,” has become synonymous with evil women. 

Then there the conflation of Mary Magdalene with a repentant prostitute in the New Testament within the Christian tradition. This association actually has no textual support and is a result of a misunderstanding due to proximity of passages. Within the Gospel of Luke, there is an unnamed sinner, a repentant prostitute, who anoints the feet of Jesus. Several verses later, Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of Jesus’ followers. There is no direct mention of Mary Magdalene of having lived a remarkably sinful life. This tradition is also in part born out of the miracle that Jesus performed for her in casting out seven demons that were inhabiting her body. Pope Gregory I asserts that the seven demons within Mary Magdalene would morph into the seven deadly sins. This composite version of Mary unites the Mary Magdalene from the Gospel of Mark (the woman with seven demon spirits) with the unnamed sinner who anoints Jesus’ feet in the Gospel of Luke and Mary of Bethany from the Gospel of John. This association with the seven vices would condemn Mary Magdalene for lust as well as pride and covetousness. Much of this is a notion within Catholicism that was rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Church, but the notion is still pervasive in Western culture. Honestly, I could probably write a whole post on Mary Magdalene and the Church.

Finally, I want to look at the misogyny of language in dealing with issues of mental illness. One key example is the term, lunacy. Now on the surface, the misogynistic connotations might not be apparent. The root of the word relates to the moon. However, pre-Christian religions such as paganism and the polytheistic religions of Greece and Roman associated the moon with femininity. The phases of the moon are associated with the Maid, Mother, and Crone. Additionally, it was a goddess, Artemis in Greek and Diana in Roman mythology, who ruled the moon. 

The associations of the feminine with mental health issues extends beyond lunacy when we look at the word, hysteria. Hysteria is defined as uncontrollable emotional excesses. The root of this word is the Greek word for the uterus, hystera. This was a “disease” that was believed to only affect women. When looking at the history of diagnosis of hysteria, it was believed to be caused by a “wandering uterus” or build-up of humors within the uterus that put pressure on other organs causing anxiety, shortness of breath, faintness, irritability, insomnia as well as a wide range of symptoms. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the “cure” for this “disease” was regular sexual intercourse with one’s husband. Self-treatment such as masturbation was not permitted although in the case of widows or other unmarried women, a midwife may provide the stimulation manually using certain oils and scents to purge the unnecessary fluid/humors. Since penetration was perceived as the only way to receive sexual satisfaction, women who were unable to orgasm due to penetration were considered to incredibly susceptible to hysteria. Centuries later treatment of this “disease” would lead to the invention of the vibrator.