Pandora's Box

Last week I attended Ella's band concert and one of the songs they played was Pandora's Box. Pandora, according to Greek mythology, was the first woman on earth. Zeus created her, gave her a beautiful jar which just so happened to contain all the evils of the world, and sent her to earth with the knowledge that she would open it. It struck me then how similar the story line was to Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. And then it struck me how these stories hold an important truth--how for centuries women have been seen as temptresses. Apparently if women didn't exist there'd be no sin, no wickedness. Isn't it true that the things people fear become objects for blame, by which one attempts to contain and have power over? Stories of temptresses are so thoughtlessly ingrained in our history that it's no wonder women are still discriminated against: we get paid less, we hold fewer positions of political and corporate power, and in certain areas of the world are stoned to death for bringing shame on families for tempting men to violate us. Women are feared, and because of that are made weak by given less power in a male dominated world. It has always been so. But think back to when these views of women were perpetuated--a time of ruggedness where one needed more brawn than brain to survive. Because of the physical strength required it was men who rose to dominant status. Somehow they skimmed over the fact that without women there would be no men. I'm not suggesting that women are better--we need each other. It's symbiotic. And I'm not suggesting that all men have or still do believe that women are inferior. But I think about my daughter and how important it is for her to have confidence and how I hope she doesn't ever have to feel objectified. And I think about my son and how I hope when he hears the old stories he'll keep to his compassionate heart and feel a sense of ridiculousness for the fact that equality hasn't always been given to every human being. Because it is, in a word, ridiculous.