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The Opened Body - Coggle Diagram
The Opened Body
Punishment
Yahweh uses openness of the body as a form of punishment. He uses his power to violate the boundaries of a feminized Israel, and forces her to expose herself.
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Forced exposure and opening of the body is a power move that Yahweh makes. He wants to be the one with the power to expose a woman in that way.
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The woman is put in a vulnerable, submissive position.
The Land and the Body
The woman and Israel play the same role, one of the submissive counterpart to the man.
Boundaries have to be created in order for the man to keep his power. Hosea “transforms” his wife from whoredom while Yahweh fights to keep Israel in a monogamous counterpart.
Hosea 2 is about the marriage between Yahweh and Israel. Yahweh punishes Israel for worshipping other gods. Israel is feminized and takes on a female body.
“Both sides of the woman-as-land metaphor come into play as he promises to destroy Israel as a woman” (Graybill 55)
Problem
The “opened body” becomes a problem when the woman decides to do so on her own accord. Yahweh tells Hosea to find a “promiscuous woman,” or a woman who does not follow the traditional Israelite values.
“Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom”
The body is seen as something that can be opened, violated, controlled. A woman’s ability to do all of these things goes against the typical masculine and feminine roles.
Women are expected to be in the role of those who are gazed upon. They do not do the gazing themselves.
Gender
Men or masculine figures do not have an opened body. Yahweh is veiled, his body is never shown thus putting him in a place of power.
Women are put in the place to be gazed on. Men have the power, thus they are able to gaze and do what they want with women.