Smells and Bells

Constance Classen's The Deepest Sense  discusses touch in relation to women's historically social roles.  Traditionally, women were connected to the lower senses because of the scripture of Adam and Eve.  Because Eve gave into temptation, she was constructed as a sensual being without high intellect and easily swayed by her lower senses. Classen links this to the place of women in the household and the fear of a woman's touch affecting male dominance.  Her discussion of the connection between women and animals is interesting because it depicts the desired woman and the feared woman.  The desired woman is like a tortoise and lives within its cold, west shell, while the feared woman is like a spider, continually spinning her web of seduction like her household handwork. The spider is also connected to Delilah in the story of Samson and Delilah, as she seduced him and then destroyed him, this story serves as an example of a woman's touch to male dominance.  Th...

The incredible inequality of the sexes is revealed in this week’s reading of the Aroma of righteousness by Deborah Green. It is not only that women are not equal to men but that women are practically a different species. According to R. Joshua, the Bible states that Adam was created from the earth while Eve was created from the bone. Therefore, women slowly decay over time and must cover up their putrid smell by using different unguents (137). Throughout this chapter, Green gives instances in which women would purposefully adorn themselves or their garments with perfume. It was believed that the women used the smell of spice to keep their husbands interested for the forty years of wandering through the desert (136). It is as if the only reason to keep a woman around is to entice her husband to have sex with her and that she has no other purpose or used expect to take care of the resultant children. Green also mentions several times how it was Eve who sinned and got Adam kicked o...