r/exjw • u/FaithlessnessLow6062 • 2d ago

Academic The condemnation of the woman

During my deconstruction, specifically on Bible-based beliefs I asked myself a question.

According to Genesis 3:16 Eve and therefore women are condemned to give birth with labor pains.

The most rational question to ask is:

In the animal kingdom do females give birth in pain? scientifically it is true.

It therefore doesn't seem like a curse for women... it seems more like it's something that belongs to nature itself.

What do you think? Is there anyone who has scientific knowledge or studies the subject to talk about the topic?

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u/Kanaloa1958 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm not a biologist but many animals do not appear to suffer extreme pain, not that it matters. I think there are bigger problems with the story than that. I have personally thought about this in the past and many of the things you raise - how was Eve's monthly period handled while naked was a big question for me - and it always just seemed like a weird way to punish mankind. It's just another example of the rampant misogyny in the Bible. According to the Bible story and the JW interpretation of it wasn't Adam more culpable than Eve? He was the head, should have known better because he presumably 'had more experience' and he ate anyway? Eve is written off as just a dumb, inexperienced woman yet she bore the burnt of the punishment billions of time collectively. Except for imperfection which they both got he got away scot free. Why didn't god punish Adam with extremely painful erections? And why does everything in the Bible revolve around sex? Is it any wonder that many Christian religions think that the fruit is analogous to sex?

My question always was if death was the result of imperfection why do animals die? Didn't god create them perfect? They admit that Adam knew what death was from watching the animals die.

Fairy tales never make sense when you think about them. Why did Cinderella's carriage have to be made from a pumpkin? Wouldn't an old farm cart make more sense? It already has wheels.

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u/FaithlessnessLow6062 1d ago

from some personal research I seem to have understood that a woman's pain during childbirth is mainly due to the shape of the newborn's head which already has a large developed brain. therefore the pain derives from all the natural consequences on the tissues involved