7
Women then and Now
In the ancient world, there was a clear separation between men and women. Women were kept away from the public as a way to ensure fidelity and they often times ran the household as their husbands did their political and spiritual obligations as men. The roles and expectations of men versus women were vastly different, aside from the universal need to procreate. Men were sexualized and their sexuality was of higher value than that of women. This idea that a man's sexual needs supersede the wishes of the woman can be shown in Ovid's Metamorphosis. In the ancient world rape was a reality and once a man, or god, desired a woman, regardless of her opinion, he would take her. For instance, Daphne ran, in fear of Apollo's lust, but ultimately could not escape. Daphne's loss of free will is reflective of the lives of ancient women as it shows their lack of voice and lack of alternatives. In the ancient world, the rape of a woman was not a crime against her, but instead a slight against the honor of her father or husband. Often, if a woman was raped she was the subject of suspicion and became a social pariah. The condemnation of women for being raped was precisely why women, like Lucretia, killed themselves to show their innocence. Often unwed women that were raped were forced to wed their rapists, as shown through the rape of the Sabine women. The glorification of the rape of the Sabine women by the Roman people, as part of their foundational stories, shows how little the ancients cared about consent.
Though many would like to believe that modern society is above gender inequality, the rape culture and gender stereotypes of the ancients are still prevalent today. The questions "what were you wearing," "had you been drinking, "or "did you consent to other sexual acts," are typically the first ones asked to a woman upon reporting her rape. These questions are often used to somehow justify the actions of the rapist. Victims today are often met with skepticism and publicized rape cases, like the Brock Turner case, demonstrate that even convicted rapists are not punished. The modern world has borrowed many things from the ancient world, but unfortunately, it has kept its rape culture and gender bias.