V.6                   Hatred of Women in Religions
                                Male, all too male, the worst of male
 
A. About Misogyny in General
B. Misogyny in Hinduism
C. Misogyny in Buddhism
D. Misogyny in Judaism
E. Misogyny in Christianity
F. Misogyny in Islam
 
A. About Misogyny in General
Misogyny, the hatred of women, is present in all of the five major world religions. They all use sinister means in cooperation with others to implement and maintain this practice, see Antisocial Minds and Their Means. This pernicious prejudice against women violates the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights that affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of discrimination and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, including distinction based on sex. It is explicitly stated in an UN document: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
     Misogyny is very similar to racism and it is as pernicious. The perpetrator's mindset is close to those who hate the victims of their actions because the victims give them a bad conscience. The "sacred" scriptures and guiding interpretations of these religions describe women as dangerous temptresses, ignorant, subhuman, even sub-animal, and the root and cause of all suffering in this world. This extreme prejudice has harmed the whole of humanity. It diverted from identifying the real causes of misery. Moreover, it excluded women from obtaining an education and opportunities outside the home. Hence, it prevented them from making contributions to the humanities and in particular religion, the sciences, and progress in general.
     To invoke the male sex organ as a proof of superiority is laughable, irrelevant, ugly and pernicious. Its only religious "value" is to attract male followers whose self-esteem is easily raised because they have little to begin with. But it is idiotic and obscene to make every male brute superior to even the most accomplished female. In reality, there is no measurable difference in intelligence between the sexes (and the races). Moreover, brute force aside, women are physically stronger as indicated by an average seven-year-longer life expectancy. Also, the morality or sociability of women's actions in society are superior as the overwhelmingly 85% male prison population demonstrates.
     An antidote for counteracting the poison of misogyny is the separation of church and state. It allows a nation to liberate itself from the worst consequences of this irrationality. Democracies that practice a separation of church and state have largely succeeded in neutralizing this prejudice. However, the hierarchy of their religions is still strictly patriarchal. It is an orthodox force that resist change and wants to turn the clock back to return women to their "divinely ordained" place. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church is obsessed with depriving a woman's right to control her body when it fights birth control and the termination of even early pregnancies. In short, while refusing to participate in child raising themselves, for them nothing but mandatory pregnancy for women will do.   
     But it was not always this way. Several thousand years ago, in the early cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, female deities were the main object of reverence. These goddesses included the Mother Goddess Earth, the fertility goddesses of prehistoric times, and the goddesses of the later Roman, Greek, and Egyptian cultures:
 
Statue of Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Agriculture
on display at the Louvre in Paris, France. (Photo source: Wikipedia)
 
Statue of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Daughter of Zeus.
This Pentelic marble copy signed ANTIOCHOS is a first century BCE copy of Phidias' 5th-century BCE original that stood on the Acropolis. (Photo source: Wikipedia).
 
Statue of Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty
The Campo Iemini Venus, Roman marble statue of the Capitoline Venus or Venus Pudica type, (British Museum). (Photo source: Wikipedia)
 
 
 
Painting of the Goddess Isis who was worshipped as the archetypal wife and mother.
By unknown Egyptian painter in 1,360 BCE. (Photo source: Wikipedia).

 

B. Misogyny in Hinduism

The Hindu laws of Manu describe women as demonic, morally unrestrained in sexual activity, generally immoral and dangerous. In agreement with this law, women are completely dependent on their husbands. It is written that husbands, though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife. Moreover, according to Manu, sons should be the sole inheritors, because a son delivers (trayate) his father from the hell called Put. Here are five quotes from the law of Manu:

"By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house.” (Manusmriti V.147) Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence. (IX.3)

For women no (sacramental) rite (is performed) with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women (who are) destitute of strength and destitute of (the knowledge of) Vedic texts, (are as impure as) falsehood (itself), that is a fixed rule. (IX:18)

Women have no right to study the Vedas [sacred scriptures]. That is why their Sanskaras are performed without Veda Mantras. Women have no knowledge of religion because they have no right to know the Vedas. The uttering of the Veda Mantras is useful for removing sin. As women cannot utter the Veda Mantras, they are as unclean as the untruth. (IX.18)

A man, aged thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases him. Or a man of twenty-four a girl of eight years of age. If (the performance of) his duties would otherwise be impeded, he must marry sooner. (IX.94)

 And according to the Manu (IX: 17) "women love their beds, seats, ornaments; impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice and bad conduct from parts of their nature."

 

     In the great religious epic, the Mahabharata, there is an entire chapter that explains how women are the root of all evil. Women are considered as much more dangerous and harmful than poison, snake, the angel of death or the god presiding over the underworld (Yama).

     Abortion of female fetuses and female infanticide is rampant in India. As stated in the "unerring truth" of the Hindu scriptures "Let a female child be born somewhere else; here, let a male child be born (Atharva Veda.6.3.4). Moreover, bride-burning, witch-burning, wife-burning, and rape still occurs and not infrequently.

Bride-burning is frequent in India. Women are first tortured to extract more dowry from their parents. Frequently, if this is not forthcoming, she is burned completely by pouring kerosene over her and setting her on fire. This is then reported as an unfortunate kitchen fire.

Witch-burning for it is easy to accuse a women of being witches. The grounds may be as harmless as talking back to men or priests or simply a man wants a new wife. "Witches" are hunted down and killed in a most gruesome manner such as being eaten alive by wild dogs, having boiling oil poured over them. Others are being nakedly paraded through town and have subsequently their genitals mutilated.  

Wife-burning A wife suspected of infidelity may be tried by ordeal. That is, she must walk through a fire, and any signs of burns are taken as proof of guilt. Then, as prescribed by the law of Manu.VIII.371, the guilty wife is to be devoured publicly by dogs.

Lower caste women are expected to submit to rape by upper caste men. For this reason the laws prohibiting such action are not enforced by the police.      

  

C. Misogyny in Buddhism

Present day Buddhism is as misogynist as Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Also, it is as patriarchal as the other four major world religions which include Christianity. But unlike the others, this is only in part  due to the basic teachings of its founder, the Buddha. It appears that sexist vices originally present were exacerbated with adaptations from the cultures in which Buddhism spread. As one researcher points out: Buddhism became a patriarchal power structure that viewed women as lustful temptresses immersed in sensuality and not in [the virtues of] dharma. A famous passage from ?"The Tale of King Udayana of Valsa" in the collection of Jewels states unequivocally the monks' attitude towards nuns and women in general:

Women can be the cause of great suffering.
If desire is destroyed, there will be everlasting happiness.
The dead snake and dog are detestable,
But women are even more detestable than they are.

According to Buddhist monks, because a female body is associated with evil, lust and greed, it is not possible for a woman to become spiritually realized. However, if she desires to become a man and mentally becomes a man, she can get realization. Buddha himself said, "The female's defects - greed, hate, and delusion and other defilements - are greater than the male's ... You (women) should have such an intention ...Because I wish to be freed from the impurities of the woman's body, I will acquire the beautiful and fresh body of a man." [my emphasis]

 

D. Misogyny in Judaism

The Hebrew Scriptures (The "Old" Testament) are foundational to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. Hence, the condemnation of women in Genesis 3.16 is a doctrine for all of them. There, God (Yahweh) curses the first woman, Eve, for the sin of offering Adam the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil:

 

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be they husband, and he shall rule over thee.

 

By this "original sin," all women are punished with the pains of childbirth and subservience to men. But it is also claimed that this transgression by Eve brought endless suffering to all of humanity while on earth. This, supposedly, explains why there is so much suffering in general and who is responsible for it.

 

     Furthermore, the Hebrew scripture treat women as the property of men (chattel, cattle), thus, promoting blatant misogyny. The wretched status of women in Judaism is acknowledged by the male prayer: "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a woman."

 

E. Misogyny in Christianity

This religion and the Bible require of woman everything, and give her nothing. They ask her support and her love, and repay her with contempt and oppression.

                                  Helen H Gardener (1853-1925) Leader in Suffrage Cause


 Although women, and the underprivileged, were initially among the early converts and received equal treatment by its founder, this egalitarianism withered away with the self-appointed Apostle Paul and disappeared completely when Judaic Christianity was replaced with Imperial Christianity in the fourth century. The trinity of Christianity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all male, and so is the hierarchy of almost all Christian Churches. The condemnation of women starts in the Hebrew Scriptures with Genesis 3.16 (see above) and this "rule over thee" is reinforced and demanded on the same grounds in the Christian Scriptures, known as The New Testament (quotes are from the King James version). The Apostle Paul demands:

In I Cor 14: 34, 35, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church"

In Timothy 2.11-12, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."

In Timothy 2.13-14 Paul attempts to give a justification: "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

In Ephesian 5.22-24, Paul orders "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husband in everything."

Questions to Paul:

1. "Why did you not choose the other version of Genesis where Adam and Eve are created at the same time?"

2. "Why did God, since He created both, give Satan a superior power of persuasion and Eve an inferior power to resist?"

3. "Was God on the site of Satan or did He make a mistake?"

4. "Why must even the completely innocent, for example, children and animals, suffer for God's or Eve's error?"

Martin Luther (1483-1546) on the quality of women:

It is evident that woman is a different animal to man, not only having different members, but also being far weaker in intellect. But although Eve was a most noble creation, like Adam, as regards the image of God, that is, in justice, wisdom and salvation, she was none the less a woman. For the sun is more splendid than the moon. . . so also woman, although the most beautiful handiwork of God, does not equal the dignity and glory of the male (Luther in his lectures on Genesis 1535-36).

 

F. Misogyny in Islam

Women were among the earliest who converted to Islam perhaps on promises for equal treatment as stated in the religion's most sacred text, the Koran. This religion was founded by Mohammad around 622 CE. The text, it is claimed, was the original word, or speech, of God delivered to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. However, this has not been the only guiding text. Over generations after the founder's death, a traditional account of things said or done by Muhammad or his companions were consolidated in a literary work named the Hadith collections. This text is full of misogynic stories rules and regulations.

     The alleged sayings by the prophet Mohammad include:

  • "I have left behind no temptation more harmful to my community than that which women represent for men."

  • "Three things bring bad luck: house, woman, and horse."

  • "I took a look at paradise, and I noted that the majority of people were poor people. I took a look at hell, and I noted that there women were the majority."

Moreover, the Hadith texts explain:

  • How God created Hawwa (Eve) from a rib bone of Adam.

  • Why wives should prostrate before their husbands

  • That dogs, donkeys, horses and women belong to the same category.

  • It is a noble sacrifice for a man to share his life with the woman . . . she being deficient in mind, religion and gratitude.

  • If a woman offered one of her breasts to be cooked and the other to be roasted, she still will fall short of fulfilling her obligations to her husband.

And Al-Ghazzali (1058-1111), one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of Islamic thought, has said: ". . . Their [the women's] deception is awesome and their wickedness is contagious; bad character and feeble mind are their predominant traits . . ."

Shariah, a system for devising laws, evolved out of:

  • Interpretations of the Koran that were often eisegetical, that is, they expressed the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text.

  • The Hadith sayings which are not necessarily authentic.

  • The tradition of Islam and apparently the cultures in which it found itself.

  • Centuries of debate, interpretation, and precedent.

It is the shariah laws that determining the Muslim way of life by all traditional schools of jurisprudence. In the case of women, they legitimize, the oppression, humiliation and persecution of Muslim women almost everywhere in the Muslim countries and elsewhere.

In sum, with regards to women, traditional Islam as practiced by Muslims asserts:

  • Women are inferior to men; therefore, they have lesser rights and privileges than men.

  • The testimony of one man is equivalent to that of two women.

  • Women have been created for the well-being and gratification of men.

  • Men are at liberty to keep and enjoy multiple wives and mistresses in special circumstances.

  • Men may divorce their wives at will while women may only separate themselves from their husbands, whether abused or not, by returning the dower* to them with the permission of the court. *wife's property received from the groom as part of the marriage contract.

  • Women must not come out in public without covering their body, hair, and face (in some Islamic nations).

  • Women are deficient, not intelligent enough to operate governments or be head of state.

  • Women do not need higher education – it is actually detrimental to them.

  • Women should inherit half of what men inherit.

In case of rape, complains by women are taken as proof that they have committed adultery or fornication. They are then charged accordingly and arrested. Obviously, as this religion promulgates, women are innately evil; hence, they must have irresistibly tempted the innocent perpetrator. In police custody, 72% of these women are physically and sexually abused according to Woman's Action Forum, a women's rights organization. The rapists, who are considered victims, usually get off free under this system. The women in Islamic nations are not much better treated than women in Hindu India.

Summary: The Abysmal Antisocial

The cruel treatment of animals has been criminalized in many countries. In future, it is hoped that the most viscous antisocial behavior and the abuse of children and women will also be considered unacceptable cruelty and therefore be criminalized.

     All the preceding sections of this work may be considered as a preparation for the pragmatic life. With the chapters of the abysmal antisocial, the informational part (the facts and data of this world) and the intellectual part (the skills to determine what follows from the facts) come to an end. Now we have the means to apply the learned to life which is immersed in the real world. Hence, we need answers to vital questions and social problems, and evaluate and eventually reform the social--political world including organized religion. Finally, each of us individually needs to create a personal best-life philosophy that includes an ultimate belief that is “unshakeable, strong from top to bottom, and solid to the core.” This, then, will make the individual truly human, that is, the captain of his or her destiny. Hence, the topic of the next section is The Pragmatic Life.