The New Femme Fatale: Agency and Victimhood in Judith Kayla Kibbe College

In a dichotomy that continues to plague media representations of female sexuality to this day, biblical women have a strong history of falling into one of two unflattering characterizations: victim or villain. Particularly where sexuality is involved, these women often even manage to fulfill both roles, falling victim to the consequences of their own sexual evils. Both the wielders and the victims of their uncurbed sexuality, these women lure men to their demise, often while also meeting their own. Eve, the archetypal fallen woman, on whose shoulders rests the blame for mankind’s earthly suffering, has successors throughout the Old Testament in numerous biblical seductresses, including Bathsheba, Delilah, and of course, the still colloquially infamous Jezebel.

In many ways, the apocryphal Judith surfaces not only as a departure, but perhaps even as a subversion of this problematic trope. Unlike her seductive counterparts, Judith is neither victim nor villain, but, in fact, hero. Throughout her narrative, Judith maintains complete control over her own sexuality, manipulating it in a calculated—and God-sanctioned—attempt to exploit her enemy. Even with this manipulative edge, however, Judith is not presented as a cautionary tale...