Eve Was Shamed is an important intervention, particularly on the subject of rape. Unlike Germaine Greer, who recently wrote a provocative and alienating book about it, based in part on a set of assumptions I found particularly hard to recognise, Kennedy brings us cold, hard facts about how women are treated by the criminal justice system, including rape victims still expected to answer questions in the vein of: “whether her vagina was naturally lubricated to enable penetration, thereby encouraging the jury to infer that some gratification was being found”. A powerful and authoritative polemic … Kennedy cites precedents and incontrovertible evidence to show how a 'web of prejudice, privilege and misinformation affects women' in all their dealings with the law … brave, forceful and eloquent. It may even change things. The inspiration comes from a t-shirt my mother had during my childhood. My first teacher. The first person to look out for my health and wellbeing. The woman who taught me to stand up for myself. The mother who fiercely, relentlessly demanded better treatment for me when I will ill in my 20s. The warrior who fought Alzheimer’s in her final years and showed us all grace and courage in the face of that battle. What sort is this God? First [God] envied Adam that he should eat from the tree of knowledge…. And afterward [God] said, Let us cast him out of this place, lest he eat of the tree of life and live for ever.” Surely [God] has shown himself to be a malicious envier. (Kripal 1)

Along these lines, in a 1784 essay, the philosopher Immanuel Kant said that the motto of the Enlightenment — that time of challenge established norms through the power of human reason (“human knowledge”) — was “Dare to Know!” And through the lens of the Genesis story, we can hear that Enlightenment motto as another form of the serpent’s hiss: “Take and eat of what you know to be true.” In organizing our thoughts and research into where the growing investment into women's health and FemTech is going, we found FemTech Analytic’s categorization of the 10 subsectors particularly intriguing: Menstrual Health, Reproductive Health & Contraception, Longevity, Pregnancy & Nursing, General Health Care, Mental Health, Manopause Care, Sexual Health, Pelvic and Uterine Care and Women's Wellness. We’ll explore that more too. Stay tuned. Remember also that the non-canonical, Gnostic text The Testimony of Truth criticized God as a “malicious envier” for punishing Adam and Eve for eating from the tree of knowledge — which is basically criticizing God (as depicted in the story) for playing the role of every controlling authority figure who has unsuccessfully tried to repress adolescent rebellion in countless teenage film, dramas, and books. Two women on a journey to answer the question “Where’s the Sex Ed class 2.0 for your twenties through your adult life?”

Similar questions have gotten many a precocious child into trouble over the years in Sunday School classes: I don't usually read non-fiction. I find it dull and boring, and only really read it out of necessity. But in this book I found a kind of compromise. Two women on a mission to help more women learn about themselves and the companies working to put control of women’s health into our own hands through sharing our own personal journeys.

But some defendants feel more uncomfortable than others. The further you are from being white, male, middle class, highly educated and professional, the more terrifying this environment is going to be.

And did God lie when God said, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Even according to the canonical Bible, the serpent was right on that count. As the serpent hissed into Eve’s ear: “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”