Mythology and today, rather than focus on how the earth and whats around it was created,
were going to look specifically at whats on it, more specifically people, and even
more specifically, men and women. People. Also the occasional animal. No, not you Thoth.
Youre a god with an animal head, its
different. Anyway, were going to see how myths explain
our origins and our relationships with each other, or at least how they try to explain
them. Its couples therapy, myth style. INTRO
Myths dont usually incorporate contemporary ideas of gender fluidity, although sometimes
they do--Tireisias, ancient seer, Im looking at you.
As weve seen from the Chinese and Zoroastrian
creation stories, myths often tend to focus on dualities, or binaries, and one of the
key ones we find is a distinction between men and women. And this binary opposition frequently sets
women as subordinate to men, at least on earth. In the heavens, its a little bit more complicated,
as it tends to be. Lets start with a story that is probably
well known to many of our viewers: the creation of man and woman from the Bible.
Close readers of the Book of Genesis will
know that there are two or even three creation stories in it, which, according to Biblical
scholars reflects different writing traditions. Were going to focus on the second one,
found in Genesis 2. As we join our story, God has already created
the the earth and the heavens and man to till the earth, because as we established last
time: Gods dont like weeding. Unlike the first version of creation in Genesis,
man is created near the very beginning, which suggests that hes actually pretty important
in the grand scheme of things.
But apparently one man wasnt enough for
all that Edenic gardening. Genesis 2 verse 21 begins:
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one
his ribs and closed up its place with flesh: and with the rib the Lord God had taken from
the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, This is the bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh, she should be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh.
Here we see an early justification for men
being superior to women and its kind of based on bad word play. In the rest of the Genesis story, one of the
things that marks mans dominion over other creatures is that he is given the power to
name them, just as he is permitted to name woman here. The word play here also works in the original
Hebrew, where the word for man is ish and the word for woman is isha Get it! She was taken out of man and so even her name
is taken out of man. Yup.
Its Hilarious. Just ask Gelos, Greek god of laughter. Yeah, tough crowd. This passage also explains marriage -- although
only between a man and a woman -- and describes a social order in which men leave their parents
household when they marry to have their own homes.
Whether this describes a family structure
that already existed or was written in order to encourage such a family structure, we cant
say for certain, but its likely that this was an after-the-fact description. Providing a rationalization for what people
encounter in their daily lives is an important function of myths. The Bible goes on to refine the natural
relationship between men and women and not in an especially fun or feminist way. After they eat the fruit from the tree of
knowledge, God is miffed and he punishes them.
To the woman he said,
I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; In pain you should bring forth children,
Yet your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said,
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
And you have eaten of the tree of which I. Commanded you,
You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken;
You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Theres just a lot going on here. One way to interpret this is that it provides
justification for mans dominance over women as a punishment for what one woman did in
disobeying god. The first punishments directly affect the
experiences of women, causing the pain of childbirth and desire for a husband that shall
rule over her, establishing a patriarchal order that really caught on. Men are punished too, by having to work hard
in order to eat, toiling at bringing food out of the ground.
More gardening. And what is the reward for all this hard work? Death. And returning to the ground. Not even dental benefits.
Worse yet, as far as solidifying male-dominance
goes, all of this is because man listened to the voice of his wife. So that sets a pretty nasty precedent. Greek mythology creates a similar rationale
for misogyny with the story of Pandora. Even before she opened the jar bringing sorrows
to all the world, Zeus made her as a punishme nt for Prometheus who stole fire and gave
it to the humans.
This is in addition to having his liver eaten
by an eagle for all of eternity. According to Hesiod she would be, Another
gift to men, an evil thing for their delight.[1] Hermes endowed Pandora with lies and persuasive
words and cunning ways.[2] And probably also, like, the absolute perfect shade of
lipstick, but before we agree to this image of women as conniving and untrustworthy, lets
pause to remember that its Hermes, a male god and one of the great misogynists of the
ancient world, who bestows these qualities on Pandora, so this is a dudes hateful
vision of women. Anyway, Zeus gave Pandora as a gift to Prometheuss
brother Epimetheus, who accepted her, even though Prometheus had told him to never accept
a gift from Zeus. Maybe Zeus gifted lots of socks.
According to Hesiod, heres what happened:
Before this time men lived upon the earth Apart from sorrow and from painful work,
Free from disease, which brings the Death-gods in. But now the woman opened up the cask,
And scattered pains and evils among men. Inside the casks hard walls remained one
thing, Hope, only, which did not fly through the
door. The lid stopped her, but all the others flew,
Thousands of troubles wandering the earth.[3] Unfortunately, this concept that a social
order of male dominance and female subordination resulting from women acting out of turn, is
not unique to the Biblical or the Greek tradition.
We find a similar story in Japan, just without
an evil serpent or an all powerful death chest. Lets go to the Thoughtbubble. 1.One Japanese creation myth starts with a
young, not fully formed earth that looks something like a jellyfish. 2.Three invisible gods came into existence
in Takamagahara, the High Plains of Heaven.
These three gods, called kami, were led by
the Lord of the Center of Heaven, Amanominakanushi-no-kami, After them were seven more generations of
heavenly gods, 3.Followed finally by the primal couple Izanagi and his wife Izanami,
who was also his sister. 4.Izanagi and Izanami were commanded by the
gods to solidify the drifting land, so they went to the Floating Bridge of Heaven and
stirred the soupy liquid below with a spear. Drops congealed on the tip of the spear, and
formed the island of Onogoro, the first dry land. 5.The Primal Couple went down to Onogoro and
built a heavenly pillar.
Then they decided to procreate
Izanagi asked his sister how her body was formed and she told him that there was an
unfinished part between her legs. He replied that between his legs was an excess
and perhaps the two should join there. They devised a marriage ritual whereby each
would walk around the pillar, and when they met they would exchange compliments and have
intercourse. 6.A child was born, but it was a deformed
leech-child called Hiruko.
Its parents put Hiruko in a boat and set it
out to sea. The gods determined that the reason that the
first child was born deformed was that Izanami had spoken first. 7.Izanami and Izanagi returned to the heavenly
pillar in Onogoro and repeated the ritual, only this time Izanagi spoke first. In due time, Izanami gave birth to an abundant
number of children, islands, gods and goddesses.[4] Thank you, Thoughtbubble.
This rationale established male precedence
and female subservience in Japan. Not only does this myth explain Japanese gender
inequality, it also may explain an ancient Japanese ritual in which the birth of a first
child was celebrated by putting a clay figurine into a reed boat and floating it away.[5]
There is often a strong connection between myths and rituals. Many creation stories begin with the idea
that human beings are immortal until something or someone intrudes. Biblical humans were immortal until Adam and
Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, for example.
It was human error that brought death into
the world. Oops. So we see another theme emerging here. The Biblical, Japanese, and Greek explanations
place the blame for human toil, pain, disease on women.
Its a pernicious idea, and its one that
has had profound consequences for gender relations. Perhaps what we are seeing is a justification
for a system in which men feel it is their right to rule over women, and find stories
to tell to support it. After all, there is no logical reason why
women should be blamed. Men make mistakes, too.
Were gonna get to Phaeton, and that time
he almost burned down the entire Earth, eventually. Thanks for watching, see you next time. Crash Course Mythology is filmed in the Chad
and Stacy Emigholz Studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all
these nice people. ________________
[1] Quoted in Thury, E.M.
& Devinny, M.K. Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches
to Classical and World Myths. 4Th ed. Oxford U.
Press. 2016. P. 43.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid p. 44 [4] This version of the myth is adapted from
Littleton, C. Scott, World Mythology: The Illustrated Guide. Willis, Roy (General editor) Oxford U.
Press. 2006 Pp. 112-113
[5] Ibid..
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