women in myths and legends: overhead -- lecture outline and questions

Eve and Mary: Judeo-Christion tradition

1. Scriptural myths of origin – why study the bible?
2. Lilith
3. The temptress eve and Adamic ‘man'
4. The (Virgin) Bride and the whore
5. Critiques and appropriations

Legends, Myths, Symbols

6. History of the greek gods
7. naming of athens (Minerva vs Neptune)
8. (Near) Universality of the Female Myth: The Great Goddess
9. Transformation of a Legend: Pandora's Box
10. Vagina dentata
11. Feminist Responses
12. Contemporary examples: disney, controlling images

questions:

In what ways are myths about women useful to men and to male society?

What makes Eve a temptress? Pandora? Jezebel?

Why is temptation or seduction generally associate with women?

Can you think of any contemporary cultural examples which we can interpret in new ways when we know these older stories?

What are the central components of the variety of myths of women?

Can you think of recent examples from popular culture of myths of the Mother? The sex/brain opposition? The woman as sorceress? The mother-in-law? The grandmother? The good wife? The mammy? The matriarch? The welfare mother? The Jezebel?

Dworkin writes: "we haven't formed the ancient world, it has formed us. We injested it as children, whole, had its values and consciousness imprinted on our minds as cultural absolutes long before we were in fact men and women. We have taken the fairy tales of childhood with us into maturity, chewed, but still lying in the stomach, as real identity." Do you agree with what she says? Why? Why not?

How are controlling images sustained?

How are controlling images challenged?