Lilith, feminism’s perfect icon?

By Cerebellum

Lilith, Feminism’s Perfect Icon?
Feminists the world over have latched onto Lilith as a symbol of female empowerment and an example of a woman being demonized (literally) for daring to ask for equality. I’d like to analyze the beginning of Lilith as a feminist icon, Lilith herself, and the similarities or lack thereof with feminism.

Ms. Magazine featured writer Lilly Rivlin writing the first known feminist article about Lilith in 1972. She believes that Lilith is really a more benevolent Mother Goddess who was turned into a scapegoat by Jewish and Christians to uphold patriarchy. She tries to demonstrate this claim by appealing to various points of evidence including citing Joseph Campbell’s concept of “patriarchal inversion.”

She tries to pin this demonization on “The Alphabet of Ben Sira” and various Jewish and Christian sources, but at the end of her article she talks about how Lilith goes back to previous Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian sources. Looking at the earlier versions of Lilith, she is remarkably unchanged whether as Lamashtu or Lilitu. The latter is the wind spirit Lilly mentions as “Female archetype,” but she never mentions what Lilitu does. From what I can find, Lilitu shares the demonic and evil characteristics of Lilith from “The Alphabet of Ben Sira” mixed with the modern concept of a Harpy. It is not something good or even neutral. To paraphrase Joseph Campbell, “No amount of stress in matriarchal interpretation can suppress” the evil these beings represent. They are seducers and murderers, and the especially target pregnant women and young children.

She later bemoans the downgrade in Lilith’s appearance after she became popular in Judaism and Christianity but never mentions the appearance she has as say Lamashtu who has the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, blood-stained hands, and a hairy body among some other odd traits. That’s not exactly the picture of beauty, is it? No doubt that is also part of the “cosmic sexist conspiracy” she mentions in her article.

In a version of the story that she cites Adam tries to rape Lilith. The source for this is “Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis” by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai. Although the article omits the full name of the book. According to this book, this was Lilith’s reason for leaving Adam. While I have found a larger citation of this book at the Lilith Gallery, I can’t find the source the book uses for this claim. It’s certainly not in any version of “The Alphabet of Ben Sira” that I can find. As best I can tell, this is a later interpretation of the story.

Lilly uses a lot of sexual imagery in the article. Her own rendition of Genesis 1 sounds like a bad Harlequin Romance Novel. Even outside of her parody of Genesis 1 you get lines like the following. “Also, I could not understand the shame of nakedness. I was animal, I was God: I was substance and pulsing orifice. Beneath layers of civilization, I was fur throbbing, and echoes of deep-welled animal cries.”

Am I the only one who feels like I took a wrong turn and ended up in a Tumblr fanfiction page? This kind of sexualized writing seems to be common in what passes for serious discourse among feminists. Much like “To Drink a Glacier” mentioned in the infamous Feminist Glaciology study. Here is a sample of it. “That drink is like a kiss, a kiss that takes in the entire body of the other … like some wondrous omnipotent liquid tongue, touching our own tongues all over, the roofs and sides of our mouths, then moving in us and through to where it knows … I swallow, trying to make the spiritual, sexual sweetness of it last.” This lady is thirsty all right, just not for water.

While admittedly sex and sexuality are topical to an article on Lilith, writing on par with Tumblr feels very out of place. Fortunately, this type of writing is mostly at the beginning and end of the article. Given my experience with feminists, I’m certain these two articles are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this issue in feminist writing.

Now, let’s examine the original story of Lilith from “The Alphabet of Ben Sira”, shall we?

“Soon afterward the young son of the king took ill, Said Nebuchadnezzar, “Heal my son. If you don’t, I will kill you.” ben Sira immediately sat down and wrote an amulet with the Holy Name, and he inscribed on it the angels in charge of medicine by their names, forms and images, and by their wings, hands, and feet. Nebuchadnezzar looked at the amulet. “Who are these?”
“The angels who are in charge of medicine: Snvi, Snsvi, and Smnglof. After God created Adam, who was alone,

He said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone’ (Gen. 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith began to fight. She said, ‘I will not lie below,’ and he said, ‘I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while am to be in the superior one.’ Lilith responded, ‘We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.’ But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: ‘Sovereign of the universe!’ he said, ‘the woman you gave me has run away.’ At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels to bring her back.

Neither Adam nor Lilith look good in this story. Lilith is unwilling to lie beneath Adam, and Adam doesn’t want to lie beneath her. They both clearly see this as an inferior position. Lilith claims she won’t lie on the bottom because they are both equal due to being made from the earth. However, there is nothing to indicate that she saw any problem with Adam being on the bottom, the implication is that she wants him to be on the bottom. In fact, she does explicitly state this in other versions of “The Alphabet of Ben Sira.” “And Lilith said: “You lie beneath me! We are both equal, for both of us are from the earth.” So, when he wants her on the bottom, it’s oppression, when she does it, it’s equality. Hmm, sound familiar? Let’s see what happens next.

“Said the Holy One to Adam, ‘If she agrees to come back, fine. If not she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.’ The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God’s word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, ‘We shall drown you in the sea.’

“‘Leave me!’ she said. ‘I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.’
“When the angels heard Lilith’s words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: ‘Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.’ She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels’ names on the amulets of young children. When
Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers.”

For this punishment to mean anything, Lilith must have already had at least 100 children. According to later interpretations of the story she had hundreds of demonic children by sleeping with a powerful demon (1). From what I have found, sometimes her consort is Asmodeus, while others have her with the Angel of Death Samael. Which means she was quite busy since she flew away from Adam. This matches with the feminist belief in sexual liberation. For any mother who loves her children, this would be an unbearable punishment. Lilith, however, preferred to allow 100 of her children to die every day for the rest of time than to go back to Adam and work something out.

The similarities between this version of Lilith and feminism are worth pointing out. They both claim to want equality but really want domination. Lilith did this by refusing to be on bottom but was perfectly willing to be on top and even demands it as due to her because she is equal to Adam. Feminists throughout history do this by fighting against equal rights for men in courts, fighting against support for male victims of female rapists, even going so far as to say a man being raped by a woman isn’t possible, and so much more. Lilly Rivlin herself wants matriarchy (2) and speaks favorably of a gynocracy. As is usual with feminists, the request for equality comes with a desire for domination.

Both sacrifice countless of their own children in the pursuit of their goals. Lilith did this for the sake of revenge against Adam and by extension mankind. Feminists do this through pushing for unlimited abortion and some go even as far as supporting infanticide. The “Tweet Your Abortion” campaign comes to mind.

Both engage in and/or glorify debauchery. Lilith did this by engaging in intercourse with men she seduced to produce more demonic children who go out and do the same at a rapid pace as well as mating with her demonic consorts. Feminists do this by participating in and glorifying hookup culture, pushing for sexual liberation in the form of promiscuity, prostitution, and pornography. Lilly also calls for sexual liberation, something she thinks men fear for some reason, and she displays her kinky fanfiction for all to see.

Both blame others for the consequences of their actions. Lilith did this when she claims she was “created only to cause sickness to infants,” but she was created to be Adam’s wife, not to be a plague on mankind. Feminists have done this in many ways. A notable recent complaint is that men are no longer approaching women, but they refuse to own up to the fact that they told men that they no longer wanted to be approached. One feminist I know recently complained that we were now below the replacement rate when it came to fertility but never connected the dots to the abortion movement reducing those numbers drastically.

In conclusion, I will say I agree that Lilith is the perfect icon for feminism, just not the idealized Mother Goddess (3) version of her that feminists like Lilly Rivlin imagine, but the demonic one portrayed throughout history whether as Lilith, Lamashtu, or Lilitu. The archetype of Lilith is one of seduction and murder. No amount of feminist attempts at rehabilitation will change this.

1. I guess Lilith really likes the bad boys, eh?

2. Lilly speaks quite favorably of the Canaanites and their matriarchal system. You know, the same Canaanites who burned their children alive to appease Moloch.

3. The reason a Mother Goddess doesn’t work as an icon for feminism, is that feminism has excised motherhood and nurturing from femininity. This has left most feminists with a mutilated form of femininity.
One as grotesque as the demons of old, and just as deadly.

Sources.
https://jewishchristianlit.com/alphabet/

Lilith
The Lilith Myth,
Excerpt from Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai
LILITH, by Lilly Rivlin – Ms. Magazine, December, 1972
Glaciers, gender, and science: A feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research
Lamaštu (Lamashtu) – Ancient Near East
Lilitu: Winged Temptress and Night Demon of Mesopotamian Lore

Author
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Hannah Wallen

Hannah has witnessed women's use of criminal and family courts to abuse men in five different counties, and began writing after she saw one man's ordeal drag on for seven years, continuing even when authorities had substantial evidence that the accuser was gaming the system. She is the author of Breaking the Glasses, written from an anti-feminist perspective, with a focus on men's rights and sometimes social issues. Breaking the Glasses refers to breaking down the "ism" filters through which people view the world, replacing thought in terms of political rhetoric with an exploration of the human condition and human interactions without regard to dogmatic belief systems. She has a youtube channel (also called Breaking the Glasses), and has also written for A Voice For Men and Genderratic. Hannah's work can be supported at https://www.minds.com/Oneiorosgrip