The Sin of the Modern Woman: Eve, Date Flower and Gender Dynamics by Elianne van Turennout

About "The Sin of the Modern Woman: Eve, Date Flower and Gender Dynamics"

by Elianne van Turennout

About the artwork

The modern woman is said to be the spitting image of Eve, who ate from the forbidden red fruit, according to the Biblical story. The apple is an addition from Greek mythology. Some theologians and rabbis have suggested that the red fruit was a date, making the choice of the date flower not coincidental.

The sin of the modern woman would be to behave as men have always done. Is she selfish because she aspires to a career, or a whore because she is no longer a virgin? Why should men be allowed what modern women are not? Sexists argue that a key that opens many doors has value, but a door that can be opened by many keys fails in its task.

This is less of a gotcha than they think. Women can replace locks to restore their value. Only a thief needs to open many doors to steal the valuables of others. The value of such a key comes from others. A person with a moral compass only wants to open the door of a place where he feels at home.

But let's come up with a fun metaphor of our own. A pencil sharpener who sharpens a lot of pencils is a good pencil sharpener. A pencil that is sharpened often thinks it is a good pencil because of its sharpness, but becomes so small, it is thrown away. Not that this is going to convince sexists to stop sexism, because what does a modern woman like me know, since the whole fall of the modern world is my fault?