Bad Girls of The Bible - Eve The First Scapegoat

Alex Andrews
15 minutes ago
3 min read

When it comes to “bad girls of the Bible,” Eve takes the crown as the original troublemaker. She’s the woman who - according to centuries of sermons, paintings, and pop theology - single-handedly ruined paradise. Humanity was just vibing in Eden until Eve got hungry and gullible, right?

That’s the story we’re told, right?

But let’s stop and actually read the text. Genesis 3 doesn’t say Eve was a prostitute, a harlot, or a temptress with an apple in hand and a sultry side-eye. (By the way, the Bible never even says “apple.” That was a later European artistic flourish. Blame Michelangelo, not Moses.)

What it does say is that Eve had a conversation. With a serpent. About wisdom. She was curious, hungry to understand, and she made a choice. That’s not scandal - that’s humanity.

The Fall Guy (Spoiler: It Wasn’t Just Eve)

Here’s the part patriarchal retellings always gloss over: Adam was right there. Not across the garden. Not off on a holy errand.

“She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Genesis 3:6, NIV)

Adam wasn’t tricked, seduced, or tied down. He was standing right there, listening, watching, and munching along. Yet somehow, Eve alone gets stamped as the weak one, the dangerous one, the ruin of mankind.

Adam? He gets off with a shrug, some fig leaves, and a centuries-long pass.

From Wisdom-Seeker to Temptress

Let’s be honest: what Eve did wasn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake. The fruit was described as “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:6). She wasn’t chasing sin; she was chasing knowledge.

In every other context, humanity’s hunger for knowledge is celebrated. We build universities, libraries, and entire industries on the idea that curiosity is good. But when a woman does it - when Eve does it - it suddenly becomes the root of all evil.

Patriarchal interpreters couldn’t stomach the idea of the first woman being the first seeker of wisdom. Too dangerous. Too independent. So Eve’s story was rewritten into one of seduction, danger, and downfall. She became the first scapegoat.

The Blame Game Lives On

If you think this is ancient history, think again. The Eve narrative has been recycled in endless ways to police women’s bodies and choices:

In purity culture, girls are told to cover up so boys don’t “stumble.” Because apparently, a spaghetti strap has the same power as the forbidden fruit.
In sexual assault cases, women are still asked what they were wearing, drinking, or doing - as if men’s choices are women’s responsibility.
In church teachings, women are warned not to be “temptations” to male pastors, coworkers, or congregants. (Heaven forbid we just teach men to control themselves.)

Eve set the template: men sin, stumble, or lose control, and women are tagged as the cause.

The First Woman Punished for Asking Questions

Eve isn’t the villain of the story. She’s the first woman punished for seeking knowledge. The real “fall” isn’t that she bit into fruit - it’s that her curiosity and courage were twisted into a warning label for every woman after her.

And that dynamic hasn’t gone anywhere. For sex workers and criminalized women today, the echoes are unmistakable:

Curiosity, survival choices, and even simple acts of autonomy are still weaponized as proof of danger.
Women’s stories are still rewritten to cast them as temptresses instead of truth-seekers.
And men in power are still quick to blame women for their own actions - whether it’s a judge, a pastor, or a client.

Eve’s scapegoating wasn’t just a one-time event; it became the blueprint.

Reclaiming Eve

So maybe Eve isn’t the reason humanity was cursed. Maybe she’s the reason humanity began. She was the first to reach, to question, to want more. Without her, we’d all still be naked, uneducated, and talking to snakes.

You’re welcome.