Adultery is judged more seriously for women under patriarchal tradition

Evidence

Feminine magic was profoundly domesticated in the patriarchal family. Woman gave society the opportunity to integrate cosmic forces into it. In his work Mitra-Varuna, Dumézil points out that in India as in Rome, virile power asserts itself in two ways: in Varuna and Romulus, and in the Gan-dharvas and the Luperci, it is aggression, abduction, disorder, and hubris; thus, woman is the being to be ravished and violated; if the ravished Sabine women are sterile, they are whipped with goatskin straps, compensating for violence with more violence. But on the contrary, Mitra, Numa, the Brahman women, and the Flamen wives represent reasonable law and order in the city: so the woman is bound to her husband by a ritualistic marriage, and she collaborates with him to ensure his domination over all female forces of nature; in Rome, the flamen dialis resigns from his position if his wife dies. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367 (#expands, via linked claim)

In The Act of Marriage they offered a vastly expanded treatise on sex. The book was a nearly 300-page how-to guide that answered virtually every imaginable question, often in graphic detail: How can a man delay orgasm long enough for his wife to get aroused? What about oral manipulation of breasts? Is a woman’s clitoris always the spot she desires her husband to touch to arouse her sexual tensions? Are some women born frigid? Is it right for a Christian woman to have silicone injected into her breasts? Can a homosexual or lesbian ever be cured? Is it right for Christians to practice birth control? Charting a course between an unhealthy repression of sexuality on the one hand, and the excesses of the sexual revolution on the other, the LaHayes offered a vision of sexuality securely confined within the structures of patriarchal authority. Men could have unrestrained libidos—they simply needed to satisfy themselves within marriage. Women needed to restrain themselves until marriage, at which point it was their duty to satisfy their husbands’ demands. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 210 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Polemical categories like adultery fail when applied to another religion’s marriage law; Patriarchal religions purify woman of her stained nature through male-defined submission — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 170; Moral judgment of adultery reflects interest, not nature (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Moral judgment of adultery reflects interest, not nature #corroborates (0.80)
• Patriarchal marriage domesticated feminine cosmic power into lawful order #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367
• Evangelical sex advice books channeled sexuality into patriarchal marital authority #expands (0.72) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 210