Gender and Sexuality in the Garden of Eden

Abstract

Various attempts have been made to argue that the plain meaning of the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2-3 supports a feminist, or at least a woman-friendly, understanding of the gender and sexual relationships between Adam and Eve. I counter that these arguments are not convincing and are hard to square with the biblical text, by considering four central elements in the story: (1) The sexual nature of ha’adam, Adam/the earthling at the start of our story; (2) God’s ‘curse’ of Eve; (3) The meaning of the woman being a ‘helper’ to Adam; and (4) Adam’s naming of the woman. I conclude that the most plausible meaning of these chapters is that Adam dominates Eve sexually and otherwise from the very moment of Eve’s creation.