Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Patriarchy is the system of male domination through the control of female sexuality. The control of female sexuality through the institution of patriarchal marriage is central to patriarchy. Mythology is an ontological phenomenon that illustrates people’s perceptions, and patriarchy is a concept deeply rooted into mythology. Zeus, was the ruler of skies and earth, the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state, gods, and men and the founder of patriarchy. Gradually, the idea of male ownership of children took hold. Women gradually lost their freedom, mystery, and superior position. Slowly, the social order was painfully reversed. Women became the underclass. Part of this devaluation of women’s image is due also to mythology. Before the Hellenistic period, Athena was the most important goddess. But because she was born only of Zeus, Athena’s powerful self-image as goddess was demoted. As the goddesses fell, the misogyny present in patriarchy rose. But, the rise of patriarchy was also bringing the seed of its own nemesis, feminism. As patriarchy collides with feminism, Zeus the founder of patriarchy collides not with Eve but with Lilith, the Other First woman, First Feminist, founder of feminism. In Genesis 2:21-23, Eve was not the first woman but the second and Lilith was the first, Genesis 1:27. Haughty and defiant, Lilith refused to submit to Adam’s authority, refusing to lay beneath him during intercourse. Lilith free from male authority, fled and challenged masculine authority renouncing to conceive. Lilith’s subsequent career as the agent of destruction of the male authority made of her the first feminist. “The nature and symbolism of the myth of collision between Lilith and Zeus also reveal that, in our shrinking global village, the universalized feminist fight can only succeed, and that nothing will bring back the dark ages of patriarchy.”