Little girls in Cambodia who are forced into prostitution are routinely sewn to near closed so that men can pay to “take” their virginity. Roma tribes in Eastern Europe still practice “bride kidnappings” where a teenager is kidnapped by a man, usually a stranger, and forced to marry him. The family of the “bride” is disgraced if she tries to escape or if the family tries to get her back. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, women are used as property to bargain
for trade and for reducing debts for the men of the family. It doesn’t take much of a review of the history of most primitive and modern cultures or much of a look around at current environments to reveal the obnoxious patriarchal domination and relegation of women to subservient roles across the globe.
Yet, underneath the surface of every society is the unequivocal fact that without women no preceding society could ever exist. We are, in essence, the creators of small worlds millions of times over. Every birth, with woman allowing, is the possibility of the next generations. Yes, I’m talking here about the family tree, but the tree wouldn’t be there if the women in the tree didn’t create the next branch. And yes, men on the branches need to be there too, but only in regards to their sperm, because, now this is fact, since woman is the only one of the two genders that can gestate and birth a child, it is almost left entirely to woman to create offspring. Not man. So this massive
responsibility in creating the next generations strictly rests in the abdomen of the women on the tree—the sisters, daughters, cousins, all of them female.
Another example of a patriarchal myth used as a means to encourage the male false superiority in our culture is the Christian story of Adam and Eve. Although to fully understand the story, we must also know about Lilith. But most Americans don’t. Lilith’s story is found in Hebrew tradition.
Lilith was Adam’s first wife. She was the first woman and was made of dust like Adam. However, Lilith rejected Adam, escaped the Garden, and created children of her own making. God sent angels to threaten her to return to Eden, but she declined due to the demands made of her by Adam. Lilith saw herself as equal to Adam. Since Lilith didn’t return, Adam asked God to make him a new wife, but make her from his rib, so that she will know her place as a “helpkeep.”