Misogyny tends to devastate a woman's authority by depriving her of equal treatment compared to her male counterpart. There are two conversations that seem to revolve around ancient texts and misogyny. Have religious texts directly influenced society's perception of women or has society's mindset played a role in cultivating what is written in these religious texts? As Dean Frisina states in his lecture, this topic can be associated with the famous enigma “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The creation of woman for man, from the rib of man, in ancient sacred texts may be at the origin of sexism in its various forms of condescending physiognomy. However, it could also simply be a reflection of an already existing mentality that has persisted in humanity since the hunter-gatherer era where men were seen as the physically dominant sex and women, the weak guardians. Along with ancient religious texts from the Hebrew, Christian and Islamic Bibles, plays such as “Aeschylus II” whose writings present clear evidence of the misogynistic ideals that were believed (and most likely still believed). Misogyny can be traced through the plots of the stories as well as the characteristics and personalities represented by the women in these texts. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit has often been placed at the center of heated debate over whether or not sexism existed within these early writings. Biblical scholar Phyllis Bird suggests that misogynistic ideas related to biblical stories are misunderstood. She states: “Woman is, together with man, the direct and intentional creation of God and the crowning of his creation. Man and woman were made for each other” (Hebrew Bible Stories). This side of the argument has solid reasoning behind its claim of equality between the two, even though Adam was formed first and Eve by Adam. The two were cut from the same rib, perhaps to show the two halves of a whole. But it seems more like Eve would not be complete without Adam, while Adam was born whole. Later, Eve was the one who was attracted to the serpent and the wisdom that would come from the forbidden fruit. She was described as weak-minded and foolish for giving in to her temptation. On the other hand, Adam was simply a compliant husband who ate the fruit given to him by his wife. In early writings women were often denigrated for the same actions a man would be praised for. They would be vilified for having the same personality traits that a man would be admired for. Clytemnestra, for example, was considered duplicitous for killing her husband, although the motive was to avenge the murder of her daughter. Both her daughter and son despised her for her actions. However, when Agamemnon killed his daughter Iphigenia to win a war, his other two children, Orestes and Electra, praised their father's heroic sacrifice. Electra mourned the death of Agamemnon, stating: “To call you father is a de facto bond, and all the love I could have brought to my mother is turned to you, while she is hated as she deserves; my love for a ruthlessly murdered sister turns to you" (Aeschylus, 239-242). This quote illustrates the admiration of a man whose actions of killing his daughter are justified by his incentive to win a war. You might think that Iphigenia's sacrifice for another woman (Helen of Troy) shows that women were valued, but this is not the case. Helen was seen as stolen property; something that belonged to her husband Menelaus; a cause for which Menelaus and Agamemnon owed..