The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him,”(Genesis 2:4-3:24). This is when Eve was created. Eve has been blamed for originating sin, and because of that, women have been blamed and punished throughout history. According to the Bible, women were made from man, not being able to survive without man. Even the word ‘woman’ shows that a woman stems from a ‘man’. Females being treated as second class citizens, sometimes less than that, has been an ongoing problem that present women still have to deal with. There are many instances that prove men treat women as merely ‘helpers’, rape being the most common.
One of the first cases of rape in the Bible wasn’t actually the rape of a woman, but the reasoning behind the story proves the degrading of women. The story of Lot and his daughters in multiple ways shows how inferior women are to men. For example, when a mob came to Lot’s house to capture the strangers, Lot offered up his virgin daughters to the crowd to let them do what they will with them. The fact that Lot offered up his own daughters to an angry crowd to get raped shows that women mean nothing in that society of men. Later on in the story, when Lot and his daughters are forced to leave town and live in the mountains, the oldest daughter decides it’s part of her womanly duty to have a child, and since she will never meet another man in her life, she will have it with her father. The women of that time period were brainwashed into thinking that their sole purpose of living was to marry, take care of their husband and to have children. Men treating women poorly was like second nature to them, and the women were used to it.
The story of "Lot and His Daughter" is just one example, there are plenty more. "The Rape of Dinah" is a story about a girl who gets raped by a prince, and then the prince insists on marrying her and will do anything for it to happen. In biblical times as a punishment for rape, the people of authority would make the rapists marry the women he raped and was not allowed to get a divorce. Who in their right mind would force a rape victim to marry her attacker? This just proves that the feelings of a woman were not regarded in any way. In this particular story the victim got justice due to her brothers killing her attacker, but in most rape stories this doesn't happen.
The story of Tamar and Judah is similar to the story of Lot and his daughters where the women feels obligated to have a baby, and will do whatever it takes to get one. Tamar's husband passed away without creating an heir, and because of that the next brother in line was forced to have sex with Tamar to produce the child in his honor. When he died the next brother had to do the same thing and instead he just raped her. No one was able to get her pregnant, so she then seduces the father of the brothers and he finally got her pregnant. Tamar was raped, forced to have sex with all of the brothers just to produce a male heir. When that didn’t work out she was basically obligated to have sex with Judah just so she could become pregnant. Females in that time period were looked at symbols of sex and reproducing, and the women were indoctrinated into thinking that was okay.
Along with rape comes incest as you can see from the story of Lot and his daughters. Tamar and Amnon is a story about a brother raping his sister. Incest and rape at its finest in this case. One day Amnon gets this crazy idea that he's in love with his sister and insists on laying with her. He pretends to be sick so that his sister has to come and take care of him, and once she does this is when he attacks her and rapes her. After he is done with her, he throws her out disgusted like she's an ugly creature. He beats her up, rapes her, and kicks her out bruised and bloody his own sister. When people find out about this, like his own father, there are no repercussions or punishment. Amnon gets away with what he did to his sister and sets an example to other men showing that what he did was okay. When Tamar’s other brother found out what happen he said to her “hush, sister, it could have been worse—at least is was your brother and not a stranger, don’t take it to heart” (Kirsch 278). Her brother is practically saying that what he did was okay and that is was bound to happen.
Violence against women stems from the beginning of time; whether it be rape or abuse it has always been a part of a woman’s life. The fight for women’s rights have been ongoing and they have come a long way. “The emancipate women in universities and in law courts, but continue to regard her as an object of enjoyment. Teach her, as she is taught among us, to regard herself as such, and she will always remain an inferior being” (The Kreutzer Sonata, Tolstoy). This quote is a prime example of how society is today. Society gives women rights to keep them quiet but still looks at them as figures of sex and enjoyment. The respect for women since biblical times have increased some but not much. Sexual assault is a widespread problem that strikes the younger generations. Janice Lloyd says, “nearly 1 in 5 women are raped in a lifetime.” That static is huge and it proves that sexual violence is a widespread problem in this country along with others.
Nedra Pickler says, “Obama aims to help colleges prevent sex assaults”. In Pickler’s news article it states that president Barack Obama has revealed that college sexual assault is an epidemic that is often masked in secrecy, with victims fearing shame, police poorly trained to investigate, and universities reluctant to disclose the violence. “No one is more at risk of being raped or sexually assaulted than women at our nation’s colleges and universities,” said the report by the White House Council on Women and Girls. This is a continuous problem that needs to be solved, otherwise, the nation’s youth are at risk.
Since the creation of Eve women have been punished and abused, and looked upon as toys of enjoyment. Men in biblical times thought rape was okay, and some boys to this day find rape to be a game, "part of it is just the thrill of getting an easy lay” when talking about having sex with a drunk girl. To this day, many guys do not see the harm in having sex with a woman while she’s highly intoxicated or asleep, unable to make rational decisions or any decisions at all. In multiple cases of date rape, the rapists are never convicted. Just like how it was in biblical times. The main difference between the two eras is that in biblical times the women weren’t drunk or drugged.
“Rape is an appalling crime and has devastating effect on victims and those close to them. In other words, nobody asks to be raped,” Joanna Perry from Victim Support states. Rape is often covered up and shielded from the public's view, but in order for this atrocity to stop and women to be treated better the public needs to know what is happening. Along with the decrease of public ignorance, the raped woman should not be put on trial. When a woman is raped they put her on trial along with her sexual history, and then they blame the woman for what happened to her and hold her accountable. No one asks to be raped, and the only one who should be held accountable should be the attacker. The rape of women is an old age problem that needs to be put to rest. Women are more than symbols of sex and childbirth, women are empowered human beings and should be equal to man. Rape must never be tolerated and rape needs to be looked upon as a malicious crime that needs to end.
