The Bible (and many more ancient books) report about religious "prostitution" about the times that had preceeded their patriarchal days. Those prehistoric times, that preceeded those books, were matriarchal times, and girls were in control. Survival of tribes depended on fertility of lands and animals, and that was believed to be a direct derivative of the fertility of the women of the tribe. I would like to discuss, that in a society where women are in control, women go out of their ways to start relationships with guys, and the idea to call that "prostitution" was a later patriarchal spin to suppress it and to support men's control over women. As a guy, I would like to add, that this spin made us guys loose out big time too. What's your take?
Can you give me specific instances where women were in control, and their pursuit of relationships were considered prostitution?
Hopefully these Bible citations answer the question. Deuteronomy 23:17-18 -- "17 None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. 18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a [a]dog into the house of the LORD your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God." 2 maccabees 6:1-6:4 -- "6 Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian* senator* to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; 2also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus, and to call the one in Gerizim the temple of Zeus-the-Friend-of-Strangers, as did the people who lived in that place. 3 Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil. 4For the temple was filled with debauchery and revelling by the Gentiles, who dallied with prostitutes and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit." Basically the women (and men too) were selling their bodies for the benefit of God, seeking relationships as per the template of the relationships of the pre-monotheic gods. Would there be another reason to suppress this than the then new patriarchal power scheme taking over religious practices?
where were the women "in charge" in the above verses? I know about temple prostitution, because it was practised in corinth, but that wasn't to suppress women, it was to undefile the temple.
To my understanding, temple "prostitution" was originally run by women. It was not prostitution, the women, working in an "executive hierarchy" represented the power of the female goddesses / female side of God. When men payed them (for the sex), they payed for the goddesses, like paying respect to a power that they depend on. This was the straightforward and very effective way the matriarchal societies kept control over their citizens. The verses (and including the case of Corinth, I think), show the opposite of those old times of Ishtra. The verses prove that the temple women's executive hierarchy was taken over by men, and the men invented various moral codes, such as those in the verses and in Corinth, that makes this temple sex activity either meaningless or reduces it to a simple business for the mens' profit. (In my understanding.)
