This, very much so. The Greek understanding and representation of sexuality was very much the opposite of our post-Catholic (or post-Victorian, possibly) own. To them, men were serious, no-nonsense, trying to get shit done ; whereas women were permahorny and exhausting the men’s energies with their over the top sexual drive.
The reason Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is a comedy isn’t because “women trying to end the Peloponnesian War via sexual guerilla” was a funny idea ; rather the hilariousness stemmed from the notion that women would ever be able to keep their legs together for 5 minutes - the debates between the women are chock full of innuendo (which also happen to reference economics & politics - this just to say Shakespeare didn’t invent highbrow dick jokes) and “gosh I can’t go on !”
With that in mind, Athena’s virginity (and apparent lack of any desire for humpity humpity) puts her squarely in the “manly” genre. Compare with Aphrodite, who keeps causing trouble because she’s fucking every other god besides her husband and siring monsters all over the place ; or Juno who’s constantly angry with Zeus, not because he’s fucking around (that was part and parcel of marital life among the Greek elites and accepted, so long as you did it either covertly or with prostitutes as opposed to other peoples’ wives) but because she’s not getting any.
Athena still has some “feminine” attributes/mores in some of her aspects, notably her vanity and pride which is part of the root cause for the Trojan War. But mostly she’s a dude with tits, or at least an un-woman. In that, she was scary.
Indeed, but we get the word because it was notable to the writers of the time and generated outrage and/or wink-wink-nudge-nudge on their part, I believe.
As the saying goes, there’s a word for a woman who sleeps around, and a word for a woman who gets pregnant out of wedlock, and a word for a child born out of wedlock - but no word for a man who fucks around and/or bails on his kids. Because the latter is perfectly fine by society, while the former aren’t.
Notice that none of the man who fucks around descriptors are in fact pejorative, they are sidewise admiring (possibly not the first one, but who calls someone that these days?)
Sure, economic independence for a woman would resonate with the idea of being unmarried and independent. My impression (and it is no more than that) is of the midwife being an older woman who has not only presided at multiple childbirths, but has experienced them herself.
I don’t know if the word “wife” in “midwife” means “married” (or perhaps widowed), or just “head of household/independent woman”.
Probably not provable either way - gods and goddesses and their roles and special responsibilities weren’t chosen all at once, or all for the same goddess at the same time.
Besides what **mbh **said : can you find that word (and that definition of that word) in Plato’s works ? The Bible ? The Canterbury Tales ? Macbeth ? Critique of Pure Reason ? Etc…
Beyond it not referring specifically to men who abandon their kids (someone who doesn’t pay his debts or still lives at his parents’ place past 30 could also be dubbed that, for example) ; my point is it’s also a very, very contemporary word (and borderline slang at that, whereas e.g. “bastard” is a clinical term going as far back as the Romans). Mores and morals are changing, perhaps, which is a pretty good thing.
I don’t know about ancient Greece but it’s pretty well-attested as a profession for unmarried secular women from medieval-onward Spain; note that “unmarried” could refer both to those who had refused to marry and to widows. Being single and childless meant, among other things, being more easily available at all hours or to spend several days in the house of an expecting woman who looked like the delivery might be difficult. Very often they also doubled as herbalists and general-purpose healers.
I suspect the Greeks did not speakee mucho English. For a different data point, the Spanish is comadrona, augmentative from comadre, whose own literal meaning is “woman who shares motherhood duties with another” (a friend close enough that you expect her to take care of your children and them to obey her as if they were their own).
Oh, I’m not at all surprised that Hephaestos was an (attempted) rapist. The stupid part is in trying to rape Athena, of all potential victims. You attempt to rape Athena, and she will hurt you.
Not post-Catholic, certainly. The medieval Catholic church held a view of female sexuality very similar to the Greeks and I wouldn’t be shocked if the one derived from the other.