The virgin birth was read as female self-sufficiency, needing no male intercession

Evidence

Christianity’s repugnance for the feminine body is such that it consents to doom its God to an ignominious death but saves him the stain of birth: the Council of Ephesus in the Eastern Church and the Lateran Council in the West affirm the virgin birth of Christ. The first Church Fathers—Origen, Tertullian, and Jerome—thought that Mary had given birth in blood and filth like other women; but the opinions of Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine prevail. The Virgin’s womb remained closed. Since the Middle Ages, the fact of having a body was considered an ignominy for woman. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 365 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Most of the feminine attributes we have referred to are found in these invocations. The Virgin is fertility, dew, and the source of life; many of the images show her at the well, the spring, or the fountain; the expression “Fountain of Life” was one of the most common; she was not a creator, but she nourishes, she brings to the light of day what was hidden in the earth. She is the deep reality hidden under the appearance of things: the Core, the Marrow. Through her, passions are tempered; she is what is given to man to satiate him. Wherever life is threatened, she saves and restores it: she heals and strengthens. And because life emanates from God, she as the intermediary between man and life is likewise the intermediary between humanity and God. “The devil’s gateway,” said Tertullian. But transfigured, she is heaven’s portal; paintings represent her opening the gate or the window onto paradise or raising a ladder from earth to the heavens. More straightforward, she becomes an advocate, pleading beside her Son for the salvation of men: many tableaux of the Last Judgment have her baring her breast in supplication to Christ in the name of her glorious motherhood. She protects men’s children in the folds of her cloak; her merciful love follows them through dangers over oceans and battlefields. She moves Divine Justice in the name of charity: the “Virgins of the Scales” are seen, smiling, tilting the balance where souls are weighed to the side of the Good. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 395 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Again, the Baptist women found biblical precedents to bolster their convictions and to inspire the women of their own day. Cook and Broughton pointed to the biblical woman Huldah, wife of Shallum. Huldah studied the law and interpreted the Word of God to priests and others who sought her knowledge. In the Book of Judges another married woman, Deborah, became a judge, prophet, and warrior whom God appointed to lead Israel against its enemies. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 623 (#builds-on, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Biblical women like Huldah and Deborah authorized black women’s public teaching roles. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 623; Christian doctrine enshrined the virgin birth to spare God the stain of female embodiment. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 365; The Virgin Mary embodies life-nurturing functions denied to women as creators — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 395

Related

• The Virgin Mary embodies life-nurturing functions denied to women as creators (similarity 0.87)
• Christian doctrine enshrined the virgin birth to spare God the stain of female embodiment. (similarity 0.86)
• The Virgin Mary replaced goddesses with a male-serving image of woman (similarity 0.82)
• Biblical women like Huldah and Deborah authorized black women’s public teaching roles. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Christian doctrine enshrined the virgin birth to spare God the stain of female embodiment. #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 365
• The Virgin Mary embodies life-nurturing functions denied to women as creators #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 395