The Role of Xianity in the
Oppression of Women

In examining the crimes of xianity and how these acts have oppressed women, it is extremely important to consider the following fact: since women make up more than fifty percent of the population of humanity, any act which directly or indirectly has an adverse effect on the development of humanity will play a role in the oppression of women, for they are half of humanity which would otherwise be more highly developed without the influence of this act. It is for this reason that the following evaluation of the crimes of xianity may not specifically deal with women in all cases, but rather, occasionally, with the general population of which women form an equal part.

The worst and most influential crime by xianity, and one that has caused massive repercussions specifically for women, is the virgin myth. The virgin myth is the phenomena created by a translation error. The "Virgin Mary" was not actually a virgin, but became known as being so only when the Bible was translated in Greek. In the original Biblical version in ancient Hebrew, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a young woman, not a virgin, as explicitly indicated by the Hebrew word "almah" which has no connection whatsoever with the idea of virginity. In Hebrew, the word "bethulah" could have been used to express the virginity of Mary; however, this word was never used. The meaning "virgin" was never denoted until the Bible was later translated into Greek, at which time the word "parthenos", which in Greek does literally mean virgin, was used. The reason why this mistake occurred is unknown, but considering that the ancient Greeks highly appreciated virgins as a sort of precious commodity and an object of worship, it is possible to hypothesize that this error was a result of romanticism on the part of the Greeks who may have wanted to render the Bible more exciting and romantic to read. In any case, it is nevertheless an undisputed fact that the mistranslation came about well after the original transcription of the Bible and xian scholars widely accept this fact.

The problem is therefore the following: if most xian scholars, priests, etc. are well aware of this fact, and a few Bibles have even been changed to correct the mistranslation so that "young woman" is correctly stated, why does nobody speak of this fact? The answer is simple: these men want to continue, rather than condemn, the oppression of women which has come as a direct result of this error.

It is true that the ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped in a certain way virgins in that they were offered as sacrifices, and for something to be sacrificed it must have some worth, and that they were the guardians of certain religious sites. However, until the time of the "Virgin Mary" the concept that being a virgin as an ideal which all women should hope to always maintain was not nearly as profoundly exaggerated. It was only after the wondrous tale of this one specific virgin that the tendency toward the worship of this ideal was solidified. As a result, a snowball effect was created in which the pureness of the "Virgin Mary" became so increasingly respected that a standard for all women to follow developed, forcing women to always try to maintain the same level of impeccable pureness as that of the "Virgin".

The influence of the idea of the Virgin is still very powerful in current society. In order to prove this theory, only the very simplest of experiments is required. It becomes evident that the myth of the "Virgin Mary" has had an effect of incredible magnitude on North American society as soon as one asks a small child of only six or seven years of age the following question: "What does the word "virgin" mean?" The first response that an innocent child will give is a reference to the "Virgin Mary", even though the child is too young to understand the general significance of the word. This image has so cunningly entered society that it is impossible for anyone, even a child extremely well sheltered from the media, to avoid seeing or hearing about this image. For example, even if children come from totally secular families who would deliberately protect them from this image, after only four months in elementary school, these children would be subjected to the idea in the form of a xmas play or xmas carols for a school concert. Even supposedly non-religious organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides (who, incidentally, now refuse membership to any child whose parents openly declare to be atheist), or for that matter any other extra-curicular activity, are not at all conscious of the sexist images that they are instilling in young children’s minds. It is for this reason that the image of the "Virgin Mary" has so effectively infiltrated into current society and popular culture. Thus, without any longer deliberately seeking to propagate these stereotypical images of women, xianity has successfully instilled these images in the minds of innocent children who, still to young to properly judge for themselves, may one day grown up and continue to believe in the validity of this myth.

One of many possible repercussions could be that of young girls believing than being anything less than a perfect model of female pureness would devalue them as an individual person. Young boys could be equally influenced and subsequently begin to exhibit contempt or disdain for any woman who wasn’t a virgin, as is already usually the current situation now (i.e. the stud/slut paradox). In adults, the results of the stereotypical images implanted in young minds becomes obvious. Often men, and sometimes other women, fail to accept that the true nature of women does not exclude sexuality. This denial of reality can theoretically lead to many other problems for women, such as, but certainly not limited to, being labeled as sexually promiscuous for nothing more, and often much less, than having the normal sexual habits which men are permitted. In fact, because of the intrinsic genetic need to procreate, it would be going against almost every atom in a woman’s body to blindly resist the natural desire for sexual activity, and as this would be quite difficult for most, it could only lead to unhappiness. The virgin myth is partly responsible for these complications to the natural order of humans, and by setting standards so high than few women can resist the natural urge to not follow these ideals, and this myth has caused women to be oppressed both sexually and emotionally.

It is thus obvious that xianity has a wide influence on everyday lives, even unintentionally, all because of the absolute refusal of xian leaders to take the initiative to correct openly and persistently a common falsehood of which they are aware. This conceited denial of their responsibility to correct the lies which they willingly spread is an obvious example of their unwillingness to change the stereotypes of society in order to stop denying women the equality which they so rightly deserve.

There are many other ways in which xian leaders have condoned stereotypical images of women with their reluctance to correct the common misconception of the virgin myth. Simone de Beauvoir, in her book The Second Sex, explains how men and women are often falsely compared as binary opposites, such as, sky/earth, strong/weak, breadwinner/housecleaner, etc. The same method of judgment can also be applied to individuals who fall within a common category, and, unfortunately, this is what has happened to women. In creating the almost unattainable ideal of perfection, that of being a virgin for all of one’s life, xianity has created one element of a binary opposition, and has also started the process of labeling individuals according to this ideal. All those who do not meet the high standards of this ideal must, according to xian logic, be categorized as the opposite of it. And so began the heightened disdain attached to those who were not virgins and the extremely commonplace use of the word "slut".

In the film Les terribles vivantes, renowned feminist Nicole Brossard addresses this issue. She states, " On dit toujours que le patriarcat a proposé trois images de femme : la Mère, la Vierge et la Putain. Mais il ne faut jamais oublier cette autre image de la femme dont on ne veut pas entendre parler et qui est très importante, qui est celle de l’Amazone, qui est celle de la sorcière, et dans le fond, c’est le féminisme, c’est la femme qui remet en question un système ". Note 2

The first three of these categories, that is Mother, Virgin, and Slut, can also be separated into two higher divisions: before and after marriage. Until just recently, in the history of women, the life of a woman was always centered around marriage in that, until puberty the education of a girl was mostly a development of those skills necessary for running a household and once puberty was reached, the girl was expected to be married. There was very little choice in the matter on the part of the girl, and even if she had had the choice, she would have probably in most cases chosen marriage anyway because she was raised to believe that this was a logical, necessary step in her life.

The classifications of Mother, Virgin, Slut are therefore divided as follows. Virgin or Slut are two binary opposite categories in which girls are placed before marriage, and once she has reached the age at which she can marry, she quickly becomes a Mother. Once she has become a wife and mother the status of Virgin or Slut is no longer discussed by society with such criticism for the village gossips wouldn’t want to destroy the stability of a family in which the husband may not be aware of any possible promiscuity by his wife.

With this classification neatly and tidily wrapped up by society, the only problem left to deal with was that of how to classify those women who did not fit into these categories, that is the Amazon and the Witch. The Amazons were warrior women from Greek mythology and didn’t even exist during the time when xianity sprung forth. As for the so-called witches, xianity found a simple, efficient, and absolutely brutal way to resolve its problem of women who refused to conform to traditional stereotypical ways of life, such as staying single as an "old hag". Xians killed them. The number of people (80% women) estimated to have been burned at the stake or tortured to death for supposedly being witches is over 235 000, and this does not include the millions also killed for being heretics. All of these deaths were executed in the name of xianity and deemed necessary for its survival. Evidently, it was the innocent women, not xianity, who were in danger of extinction.

Another lack of respect for women as humans can also be seen by examining the "Virgin Birth" in respect to the very base on which xianity is founded, the "Holy Trinity". The xian religion portrays itself as coming directly from three figureheads, all of which are male and which are not even assisted in any way by women. As Mary Daly illustrates, in the "Virgin Birth", Mary did nothing to contribute to the birth of Jesus but was merely a "vessel" used by a male God (henceforth written Q) Note 3 and the male "Holy Spirit" for their own self-serving purposes of producing a male son. While some xians may argue that Mary contributed to the birth, Daly interestingly points out that the "Holy Spirit" which impregnated Mary and the painless and effortless birthing process took away any contribution which Mary could have given. This whole process could be compared to that of a scientist artificially growing a plant. The scientist can simply create the germination of a seed in a test tube, put the seed into a flower pot, and when the flower has started to grow take the plant out of the pot and transplant it in a garden or wherever is desired. What real contribution does the pot make? If there is no pot, the flower can still be grown in any other container such as an old, plastic ice-cream container or even a coffee cup. The flower pot is not necessary and doesn’t stimulate the growth of the plant, the scientist does. In addition, if Mary doesn’t experience the pain of childbirth, there is no difference between her as a vessel and the flowerpot from which the scientist removes the plant. So, because of the 'Virgin Myth", the role of women as the bringers of life is also demeaned for she does nothing which could not be done without her by male Q’s.

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