Weinfeld tells us, of Wisdom origin, or as others say, of prophetic or Levitical origin, the conclusion remains the same. A look at all three of these traditions shows the use of sexual metaphors. The language of sage, prophet, and priest insists that basically there are two kinds of women. Mothers, wives, sisters, women of valor, and harlots and temptresses who seek to entice us on the way.
Consider the distinction in our verse between what men and women are forbidden to put on. The kli apparel of a man is forbidden for women, simlah clothing(perhaps a wrapper), of a women is forbidden men. In sexual matters men’s misbehavior is always different from women. For example, Ibn Ezra helps us see the difference: women’s sin is“harlotry,” men’s“adultery.” The harlot is the temptress who tries to lead men astray. Adultery is a legal term, limited by definition to a sexual act between certain parties. After adultery has occurred the female partner is called a harlot. There are no such nasty words used for the man. Harlotry is a word for public disgrace, adultery is a private act that is against the law. When it becomes public in the ritual of the Sotah, it is the woman who is tried.
Law is a distorted mirror of the world. But the world never stands directly in front of the mirror. Most often its back is turned, hinting at the unstated assumptions of the world it seeks to control. In scripture we must look at non-legal material to understand the assumptions behind the law. If we look at the creation stories that distinguish between men and women, we see tensions between them. We are first told that“male and female” He created them. Humans are equal in creation. The second story, which may have had equalitarian mythic predecessors, has woman emerging from man. The biblical editor reshapes and focuses the meaning of the first story through the prism of the second. An original unity gives way to sexual role distinction.
We are able to understand this focusing well because we are living through a time when gender roles are going through rapid transformation. As I said earlier, we know that gender roles are socially, that is politically, determined. The function and role of men and women is always being renegotiated and remains in flux. Think of it in our terms: many women adopt men’s styles to enter the market place, while men do not wear women’s clothing to do housework. We notice that women are defined by men.