Steven Vallejo

January 21,2016
Mr.Brennan
College English 12
Does Theology Promote Oppression Or Liberation?
On the Women and Mythology by Marta Weigle theology seems to be promoting
oppression. Based on Weigle females are seen as someone who give life and support, which
makes sense due to their abilities to conceive. Then people create females like for example
Mother Earth; she is seen as a caregiver, and as a sustainer of life. Mythologies has created an
expected role for a female, not as someone in power, but as a person who either supports or
destroys.
First of all, mythology has created female monsters. These female monsters are often
dangerous, and lethal--- especially to men, but also to each other (Weigle 63). This is due to
the fact that females have so much more power over mens subconscious fear of women. This
fear of women originates from the fact that men need women, men are born from women. Men
need to assert his independence, strength, and he needs to show that he is the authority and his
mother just challenges all of that. his original dependence upon the women as the supporting,
nurturant and controlling agent in his life, and of the necessity to break the shackles and assert
his autonomy and mahood. The mother is the center of love and affect, but she is also an eternal
threat to self-individuation, a figure of authority, a frustrater of urges, and a swallower of
emergent identity (Weigle 64). Thus, unknowingly fearing women men create female monsters.
men try to rationalize this fear by degrading females. In addition, since no human being can
easily face his own compulsions, the male tends to project his fear and antagonisms in terms of
derogatory attributes by insisting that women are evil, inferior and valueless (because different)
and hence should be made to obey, be kept in their place, or fulfill some unreal role which

neutralizes them and removes them from the sphere of competition (Weigle 64). This shows that
men, subconsciously or not, are oppressing females by giving them positions where they are
either a monster or a supporter but they never play an important role, they are never someone in
power and doing good with it.
Secondly, Theology has led people to believe that the perfect female is pure, making it
that no female can ever be as pure, or perfect. An example of the perfect woman would be Mary
the mother of Jesus. Theologians have insisted that Mary remained intact before, during (!)
and after the birth of Jesus Marys body never decayed and never gave off odors. instead her
physical body remained perfect even after death her absolute purity and obedience, she is the
only pin up girl who has been permitted in monks cells throughout the ages[...] (Weigle 65). The
way Mary is described is beyond belief. It is not possible to be completely flawless, but yet she
is, she is odorless and perfect during and even after life. The way she is being presented is
completely unrealistic, but yet it is how people believe a female should be. gentleness, empathy,
sensitivity, caring, sweetness, compassion, tolerance, nurturance, deference, and succorance
(Google). These words are used to describe a female. When in reality females are just as equal
intellectually as men or even more. By setting these stories the author creates a female that is
either a monster or the purist female in society oppress women oppress women in a world runned
by men and his fear, women are often overlooked for their true value.
In conclusion, the oppression of a female would cease to exist once men decide to
acknowledge women as their equal. Letting his subconscious stop him from turning him into the
oppressor. Once he faces the mystery and what really scares him. we must admit and face our
fear of women[...] the way heroes of old faced it and, facing it, conquered fear and women and

the monsters of the unconscious deep, of night and death(Weigle 64). Weigles writing supports
the idea that theology supports oppression.

Works Cited
dangerous, and lethal--- especially to men, but also to each other (Weigle 63).
his original dependence upon the women as the supporting, nurturant and controlling
agent in his life, and of the necessity to break the shackles and assert his autonomy and mahood.
The mother is the center of love and affect, but she is also an eternal threat to self-individuation,
a figure of authority, a frustrater of urges, and a swallower of emergent identity (Weigle 64).
In addition, since no human being can easily face his own compulsions, the male tends
to project his fear and antagonisms in terms of derogatory attributes by insisting that women are
evil, inferior and valueless (because different) and hence should be made to obey, be kept in their
place, or fulfill some unreal role which neutralizes them and removes them from the sphere of
competition (Weigle 64).
Theologians have insisted that Mary remained intact before, during (!) and after the
birth of Jesus Marys body never decayed and never gave off odors. instead her physical body
remained perfect even after death her absolute purity and obedience, she is the only pin up girl
who has been permitted in monks cells throughout the ages[...] (Weigle 65).
gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, caring, sweetness, compassion, tolerance, nurturance,
deference, and succorance (Google).we must admit and face our fear of women[...] the way
heroes of old faced it and, facing it, conquered fear and women and the monsters of the
unconscious deep, of night and death(Weigle 64).