Why Do We Hate Women?
By Ronald Yates
I think the first act of female hatred occurred thousands of years ago when
according to the Bible God created men and women. The people God created and
placed in the Garden of Eden, were Adam and Eve. While they both committed an
act of defiance by eating of the “Forbidden Fruit,” it was Eve who bore the brunt of
God’s wrath, but why? Adam was created prior to Eve, and therefore, knew full
well that he should not “Eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life,” and should have
warned Eve to avoid the ominous tree in the center of the Garden. Instead, it
seems as if Adam did little to explain to Eve the dangers associated with the tree.
Nor did the Bible specify that either of them were pre-warned of the existence of
the evil spirit we refer to as “The Devil” and the dangers and consequences of
consorting and/or conspiring with this demonic presence. I think most of us have
some knowledge of this story. Eve allegedly took a bite of a fruit, that has never
been identified, brought it back to Adam who took a bite as well. As a result, God
was pretty pissed off after seeing what had occurred. So God made a trip to the
Garden to personally evict Adam and Eve. But before handing them their
“Eviction Notice,” He administered their punishments. For Adam he would now
be forced to labor to produce the fruits of the Earth, that previously happened
naturally. And Eve would be cursed with a Menstrual Cycle and childbirth that
would be excruciatingly painful; no-one had been born before so what did they
have to compare Eve’s labor to? Nonetheless, it was Eve who got the worst of the
deal.
In the centuries since the first humans walked the Earth, not much has changed for
women. All over the world women are fighting for basic human rights and some
are fighting for their very lives. In some societies, women are killed for essentially
being born female. In America we say that we are an “advanced, progressive
society,” so much so that we routinely tell other nations how to fairly treat other
human beings. In other words that other nations record on human rights lag
somewhere on a primitive level; but are we being hypocritical? American women,
just like women around the world have also had to struggle for equal
rights/treatment; and the struggle is far from over.
While we are quick to raise hell about things like “Female Circumcision” in
countries on the African Continent, it was right here in the United States that we
burned women at the stake for unjustified allegations of witchcraft. In these
modern times women are still paid less than men, specifically white men.
Currently, women make approximately 70 cents to every dollar earned by White
men. Until the 1970’s White women in America were able to serve in the Armed
Service; but could not have a credit card or open a bank account without
permission from their husbands. For females, who pursued a career in acting, there
was a special category just for them known as the “Casting Couch.” Many women,
regardless of their level of talent were subjected to unwanted sexual advances and
if they resisted would never be allowed on the silver screen. During that time,
there was a phrase that sought to justify men’s bad behavior, it was “Boys will be
Boys.” Consequently, sexual harassment, in it’s many demeaning forms was an
accepted part of our so-called “advanced progressive society.” The hatred and
disenfranchisement of women even carried into movies and television where, to
this day, it is often women who are killed in some of the most grotesque fashions.
And it is typically women who are the victims of serial killers (e.g., Jack the
Ripper, the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy) as well as a host of other women haters.
If men were being killed at that rate you can rest assured all investigative measures
would have been brought to bear.
For married women or those in a domestic partnership, domestic violence was an
accepted part of the marriage contract. In fact, the laws on the books did little to
discourage acts of violence against women. The “Rule of Thumb” refers to the
size of the mark you could leave on your wife while beating her. As long as the
bruises were not as long as your thumb, it was legal. It was not until the highly
publicized murder of Nicole Brown Simpson that we begin to focus on the issue of
violence against women. But even with all of the new legislative laws, more than
1,000 women die yearly at the hands of a spouse or domestic partner. According
to the most recent statistics more than 209,000 women are reported missing in
America and for women of color their disappearances go largely ignored. Little is
done by law enforcement to find the thousands of women-of-color who have
vanished in the U.S.
Last year in the Women’s College Basketball playoffs, it was made abundantly
clear that the contempt and disregard is still there. Female athletes play the same
game, but are provided “Separate and Unequal facilities, i.e., the Ladies Training
Center… as opposed to the men’s. The men had the latest state-of-the-art weights
and equipment while the women’s had one rack of weights. Essentially the US,
the so-called “Beacon of Hope, the Lead Nation of the Free World, the World’s
largest democracy,” punishes women for being born with female genitalia. Of
course, we want access to their genitalia; but want to dictate the terms.
We tell women what is appropriate to wear, where they should work because some
jobs are considered for “Men Only.” We dictate if and when, to give birth. And
for their desire to be mothers, we tell them to go have a baby if you like; but get
back to work within six weeks. We say we are a Judeo-Christian Country, so
abortion is frowned upon. Yet the debate over the practice is held in closed-door
meetings comprised almost entirely of men. For children who are born, we strip
away programs that provide for adequate nutrition and are constantly reducing
funding for education and childcare.
We say we love our female counterparts, but we have a morbid way of showing it.
In fact, what we do show, both blatantly and blindly is the long-established hatred
and disregard that American and foreign women continue to experience and
endure. So just what makes the United States of America so much more
progressive and advanced than third-world countries when it comes to women?
