Through this lesson the student will learn how the Yahwist creation myth symbolizes, and thus constructs, the Israelites' understanding of gender. This lesson, involving two class sessions, is a continuation of Lesson 4.

Bible: Reread Genesis 1-3

Lecture: Gender Construction in the Yahwist Creation Myth

Handouts: Women in the Mediterranean

Interpret the Israelites' understanding of gender, as presented in Genesis 2:4b-3:24.

Creation myths articulate what the people already believe to be true. In this way, the myth reinforces the gender construction of the ancient Israelites. It presents a symbolic narrative that reinforces what the Israelites believe about men and women.

Your essay should begin with a clear thesis statement articulating what the ancient Israelites believed about the social roles of men and women, and how the Yahwist's creation myth symbolizes this understanding. Develop the thesis in response to a problem in the text.

The evidence for your thesis will probably come from the many gendered symbols and references in the narrative, and their structural relationship. Specifically, your evidence should include at least the following: Adam's creation from the adamah; Ishshah's creation from Ish; and the gendered consequences of sexual awareness, gained through eating the fruit of knowledge.

What is the relationship between the social roles of men and women? Why is the man's social role symbolized by farming? Why is the woman's social role symbolized by bearing children?

C. Geertz. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973

S. B. Ortner and H Whitehead. "Introduction: Accounting for Sexual Meanings." Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

D. C. Schneider. "What is Kinship All About?" Kinship Studies in the Morgan Centennial Year. Washington D.C.: Anthropological Society of Washington, 1972.

S. J. Yanagisako and J. F. Collier, "Toward a Unified Analysis of Gender and Kinship." Gender and Kinship: Essays Toward a Unified Analysis. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.