Biblical times and birth/uncleaness/mentruation?

Question

In chapter 12 of Leviticus, it says that a women giving birth to a boy would be unclean for 7 days and a further 33 days. If it was a female child, it was to be 14 days plus 66days..why the difference, this seems more than a little "odd" to me.
Also Leviticus chapter 15 verses 19 to 24 talk about mentruation women being unclean, and about objects she lies/sits on being unclean and anyone touching these objects or her being unclean. Why? Menstrual blood poses no greater disease transmittion risk than other blood. This seems particularly harsh and unfair, especially if God created women and gave them periods in the first place!
Am interested in hearing from anyone, but especially Christians.

also posted in religion section and some interesting replies
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070404210048AA3ecss&r=w

Answer 1

You have to remember that when Leviticus was written, the medical knowledge was not nearly as informed as it is now. I don't believe they took disease transference into account when speaking about women being unclean after birth. We can't judge Biblical times by modern standards.

I don't know that I agree that it was a way to give women a break from the sexual demands of her husband. I think it was more to do with cleanliness in the form of religious purity. And it was one more way to place women second to men, in a culture that was very much influenced by Greco-Roman ideologies that women were imperfect males!

Answer 2

When reading Leviticus, even though I am not a Christian, I do see some cause to think of the possibility of divine inspiration because of the nature of the laws and how I can see at least some basis behind them that Biblical people would have had no understanding of. Most of these laws involve health issues and kosher laws that really make at least some sense if you read them. For example, there are several verses on inter-family sexual relations, and who you can sleep with and who you can't, which we now know you can't sleep with close relatives because the children are much more likely to have genetic defects. Biblical people would have had little to no understanding of these issues, and the author added his own take on the subjects and I personally feel you can see the prejudices and sexism amidst the verses that he has added along the way.

When you're on your period, you bleed pretty much straight through several days, unlike a normal wound, which will clot and stop bleeding. More blood=more material for bacteria to grow in. While it seems unfair, women were not very highly looked upon to begin with, and people had little understanding of how the menstrual cycle worked, but there was still a lot of blood to be spread around by menstruating women, which poses a health risk to everyone living in that area.

As for the unclean time period being different after giving birth to a girl or a boy, I would simply chalk this up to sexism. Males had more value in that culture, and thus weren't considered as unclean as a woman who was unclean to begin with (women were considered too unclean to be priests).

And as for God giving women periods, I wouldn't necessarily think that a menstrual cycle was an original part of the female body, but was rather a byproduct of sin and having to bear children (that is only my opinion, though).

Answer 3

Actually, since it's the Jewish bible, it would be better to ask some Jews.

The whole "unclean" thing was a way of making people wait to have sex until a woman was most likely to get pregnant. I think it was a negotiation between men and women's sex drives. By making a woman "unclean" during her period, the Jews gave women a break from the sexual demands of their husbands and forced the husbands to attach to their wives emotionally. Pretty clever, actually.

Answer 4

Women were horribly discriminated against during that time. Being born a girl was almost like a birth defect. Their natural body processes were thought to be disgusting. You're absolutely right, but that's just how the culture was back then.

Answer 5

i dont have an aweser but i have it in my watch so i hope with you that a good answer will come in

i dont know if it is 100% true but i was told in school that when native american women were on their cycle they had to go in a certian tee pee and sit over a hole till they were done bleeding ! that would suck

Answer 6

well,washrooms weren't as accessible as they are now days and we still have leaks

Answer 7

im sorry, it sounds stupid to me.