How so?

     A busy westerner gets lost and asks an old tribe'sman sheparding his flocks for directions to the nearest town. The answer he gets is :the sky is blue". The westerner gets irate, questioning the tribe'sman's sanity or intellectually spiritual and believes he is being told his destination should instead be the sky. In fact if either had eyes to see, they would notice the joy in the old man's eyes and perceive the peace in his soul as it radiates out in quiet, subtle invitation to join him in his state of being. The old man appreciates the beauty around him because he is quiet and peaceful, he is always where he needs to be. All of this conveyed in a short statement; "the sky is blue". Something we cannot understand if we are projecting into it, it is something we need to open ourselves to. This is how we should read the bible. It was written by a culture that began as nomadic tribes where people had nothing better to do in the fields all day but stop and smell the roses, as we westerners would say. The traditions were passed down orally where children heard the story of the old man and westerner and the phrase "the sky is blue" became a sort of slang or catch phrase and stories were written using it in that way to convey the same meaning as "stop and smell the roses". The tribal culture met the intellectual and translation became "seek the sky's color for directions".  I believe this is sort of how it went with the meaning of the word/words translated to be "unclean". The phrase meant to treat as if unclean but simply means "forbidden to you" or "forbidden".
      This is how it is so that I can say the bible could be viewed as a sort of feminist manifesto. We are told in scripture that a man is not to be with a woman during her menses because he would get too near the source of her flow. What is the source of all things? God. Too close to God, too holy for a sinful man. Tribal cultures around the world provide a seperate place for women to go during their time of menses because they know it is the time when women are more likely to see visions, gain understandings, etc. They are traditionally closer to spirit and spirits. From experience I can tell you that when a woman expresses honestly and has no inner baggage or repression, when the energy surge comes before her period, she becomes elated rather than irritated, she gets clarity during her period. She suffers no cramps or pms but rather feels on top of the world and full of energy.
     Another aspect of this whole process is that it is believed blood is required for sacrifice to gain closeness to spirit as well as to satisfy covenants. The soul is in the blood and belongs to God, it is to be poured out, returned to the earth from which it came. Women naturally return a part of their soul back to God every month during child bearing years. Could it be less coinage and smaller animals were called for to cover them under Jewish law not because their lives were worth less, but because they already paid more? Could men only approach spirit under the restrictions of priesthood because they had no other way to cover themselves? Men were to leave their father and mother to cleave to their wives. Bloodlines were passed via women, not men. An understanding of this ws reflected in that statement to leave his family, becoming part of hers.
     Women are mostly repressed or given the illusion of authority by men who let them be the bad guy while they use "good ol' boy" charm to influence things. Women did all the household tasks, gathering food and firewood, medical attention, etc, providing for family while men sat at the gate and bragged about their wife of great value and bought useless items that impressed their friends. (capable wife of proverbs). as a side note: Charity organizations serving third world countries (tribal cultures) give money to women rather than men because they know women will use it to start bussiness and raise their community's standard of living. They find men use it to buy computers, cars, tvs and video games that will impress friends and leave their families hungry and struggling.
Scripture records God saying "I am creating something new, a woman shall encompass a man". The world awaits the bride of revelation, goddess, or the bride sabbath amongst the Jews. The entire paradisaic or heavenly or utopian existence is dependent upon the revealing of a woman in the majority of any religious prophesy.
    In christianity, men are told they are responsible for their wives. In Jewish society he was so responsible he had to see that he provide the means for her to fulfill any vows she made if he didn't initially dissapprove of them. She does the doing and he pays the price: whose hand really rocks that cradle? I believe women were admonished to "question" their husbands at home not because they would have stupid questions or be questioning the men. I beleieve it is because men generally have sensative egos and an enlightened woman expressing greater understandings results in their feeling inadequate. A male weakness and an opportunity for women to be gracious. But like not partaking of things to cater to those with a weaker conscience, I prefer to be around those above the need for that. When I was a Jehovah's Witness, I asked th elders why I could not find a husband. I was feeling so insecure. They told me I intimidate men. Me? How? Really? Why? What do I do wrong? Nothing. I was open, honest, intelligent, perceptive and a little bit good looking. God blessed me on many levels and that scared men. They feared their own inadequcies, even if I didn't see any. I stepped on toes just being friendly, bruised egos by responding intelligently. It was devastating emotionally.
     Time after time we see in scripture frightened, weak or cowardly men being humiliated by God choosing a woman as conqueror where the man wouldn't go. We read of a king meeting his responsibility to provide an heir for his son only when his lower lusts were used against him by that daughter-in-law masquerading as a prostitute. He declared her more righteous than he.
    We read of Isreal being likened to a woman, we read of God seeing a female baby rejected at birth lying in blood and no one having cleaned her with salt. We read the romantic description of young breasts.....God has a definate fondness for the image of woman and womanhood. How could something of little value to him cause such anger, wrath and jealousy as He describes feeling over this woman? No, his loss of Eve was devastating to him, I guarentee. Eve was misled and even christian scripture says to test every spirit. Was not that what Eve did? She set out to prove for herself what was true. Adam simply failed to take responsibility and blamed everyone but himself. Eve's soul lives on in the blood passed from mother to child when the egg attaches to the uterous. Adam's entire soul went back into the earth. That is how it is that a woman is saved by childbearing, as chrisitan scripture says. She never really dies as a soul, but lives on in her children. Speaking of which, the man called Jesus was descended from a woman whose bloodline was descended from non-Jewish women (such as the mother of Obed). The only thing jewish about so-called Jesus was dna contributed by male ancestors of his mother. His soul was not jewish at all. His father being God would disclude a patriarchal lineage. maybe he was blonde-haired and blue-eyed after all. The Isrealites were chosen as a people to preserve knowledge of God and His purpose, not bloodlines, anyways. Repeatedly we read in old testament and new that anyone from any tribe, tongue or nation is acceptable to Him and could become one of His people. Salvation would come from the Jews via knowledge and understanding/the Truth, which was preserved in their oral then written traditions. God's sacrifice was for a woman, because of a woman. he said "It is not good for man to dwell alone.". man was no good to himself, God or anyone else on his own. Woman was created to remind man that he was not God and God that He was not man. It was in man's mind that God finally realized it's self as God.
     Ideally, and from brief experience, this perspective benefits everybody, especially men. A spiritually sound woman gets away from distractions, full of spirit once every month. She is inspired with understandings and solutions to problems. She comes out and gives them to her husband who is then able to apply them as head of household. His choosing how to apply them is his opportunity to fulfill/take responsibility for his actions, gives him something to be responsible for. And it's easier on the woman who is more comfortable with abstracts rather than details. She nurtures the idea while he goes into action, aspects most frequently attributed to be suited to each gender. It lets her be a woman contentedly acting in the place she is most comfortble rather than "in her place". A woman helps keep a man from going insane and this, I would imagine, is of gret help to him.
     So, yeah, that is alot about how it could be so that the bible may be perceived as a sort of feminist manifesto in support of men. Amen.
adding: is it no wonder God would sacifice nations and a son to save a beloved daughter's children? Especially one who might be the spitting image of her first mother, Eve.

as an aside: turns out the morning star is believed to be female. When reading in revelation the declaration about I am the alpha and omega, I am the bright and morning star....in oneness, from the same being, we are having more than one introduce/announce themselves. The invitation to come is from 4 different beings grouped in two pairs. Before mankind was created existed the sons of God and the morning stars/daughters of God.