Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Diaz - Williamson
World History : 4
10 April 2019
Deuteronomy 22:13-30
through examples of male dominance over women concerning virginity, viewing women as
property, and other stereotypes associated with women. First of all, in this text the males only
valued women who were virgins because it proved the legitimacy of the man’s offspring. If the
woman was assumed to have not been a virgin, then the men would tell the council of the elders
in an effort to either get evidence of the woman’s virginity or have the woman punished. If the
woman lied about her virginity, “the men of her town shall stone her to death.” This supports
Gerna Lerner’s definition because in the society that this text represents, the men are able to
stone the woman to death for simply not being able to confirm the legitimacy of their offspring.
Second of all, the father represents the woman in front of the elders which demonstrates the
manifestation of male dominance over women both in the family and in society. The father is
representing his female family members in front of many of the important members of the
society. The father is the person who “submit[s] the evidence of the young woman’s virginity” to
the elders of the city. The woman is not allowed to defend herself, but more importantly, the fact
that she has to prove her virginity to the males is what demonstrates Gerna Lerner’s definition of
patriarchy. Third of all, if a man lies with an engaged woman in the city, she will be stoned to
death because it is assumed that “she did not cry for help.” This both characterizes woman as
weak, and punishes a woman for an activity concerning her body. Lastly, in this text the women
are treated as if they are property. After being “sieze[d],” in most situations the women are
forced to stay the wife of the man for the rest of their life unless they would rather be dead or a
prostitute. There are very few options for women in this society. They can either be treated as
property, or be no one at all. For example, if a man lies with a woman who is a virgin and is not
engaged, “she shall become his wife.” The woman does not have a choice in this matter
whatsoever. All in all, this text represents Gerna Lerner’s definition of patriarchy through
examples of male dominance over women in the family and in society in general.