The story of the original sin is told in the third chapter of the Genesis. It is said that the snake told Adam’s wife, who does not have a name in the version that I read, to taste the apple from the forbidden tree because then her eyes would open, truly, and she would know good from bad and be more like god.
It is her who plucks the apple, it is her who does the forbidden deed, and it is her who hands the fruit to Adam. When god discovers this betrayal, he is furious and questions them both.
Adam is quick to point out that it was his wife who tempted him, shifting the blame away from himself and towards the woman who was made of his rib. God answers this with a curse: For the woman’s betrayal, all women shall suffer from child birth, and all women will be governed by their husband and master.
I’ve started reading the bible recently, because I wonder at some things that I’m told by devout believers, on subjects like homosexuality or women’s equality. They have their interpretations, I have mine. Let me reiterate:
There was a woman at the beginning of time (and the beginning of us all), the mother of all women on earth (and all men, too) and she did not fear the consequence of taking what she felt was hers by right, of questioning rules she did not see fit to govern her, nor see the sense of.
A woman who dared standing up to whatever
gods may be, taking in stride whatever unjust punishment was spoken over her.
And she did have a name,
and it was Eve.