The Mythology of the Whore of Babylon in Contemporary Reproductive Politics

Abstract

The Whore of Babylon is a diabolical female figure in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the canonical Bible. Throughout history this image has been used metaphorically to communicate a threat. The focus on the Whore as a woman and mother infuses the female body with apocalyptic significance and reinforces stereotypical gender roles.
This dissertation traces how a fundamentalist mythological interpretation of the Whore of Babylon enters into current reproductive politics that aim to bolster moral codes of female procreation. It relies on a careful analysis of a rich array of primary source material from Protestant fundamentalist religious organizations.
Focusing on religious imagery associated with the Whore of Babylon in conversation with contemporary socio-political discourses, the project identifies three mythemes: False Religion and Deception, Empire, and Monstrous Births. Attentive to the reciprocating relationship between story and culture, this study shows how these mythemes form a mythological narrative important to meaning-making in contemporary American reproductive dialogues. A feminist critique exposes how the appearance of these themes in anti-abortion discourse influences cultural ideas about gender, sexuality, and reproduction manifesting in public policies that police female reproduction.
Observing how these mythemes work beneath the surface of current reproductive politics, this study concludes that there is a failure in predominate understandings of the Whore mythology to see the female power inherent in the image. An alternate reading of the Whore myth reclaims this female power by recognizing that the fluidity of the mythic image provides a space to imagine beyond the social limitations of gender. This revisioning of the Whore mythology then expands upon the binary gender roles presented in the marriage metaphor of Revelation. It explores how the political dialogue around abortion can be deepened by a depth/archetypal psychological approach that considers the Whore narrative as a myth of rebirth. Links are also made between the mythology of the Whore and ancient maternal goddesses, a connection that places the authority over procreation back within the domain of the procreative body.