March is Women's History Month in much of the English-speaking world. This means the patriarchy is currently keeping the eleven other months for itself but hey, baby steps. Ken Jennings, like many Jeopardy! contestants, would be the first to admit he knows nothing about women. But he'll be with us all month correcting some misconceptions about history—or is it herstory?!?—that even the most ardent Women's Studies majors might miss on the final.
The Debunker: In the New Testament, Is Mary Magdalene a "Fallen Woman"?
If you know anything about Mary of Magdala, it's probably her life as a sex worker. She's the patron saint of "wayward women," after all, and for centuries Catholic organizations operated a network of "Magdalene asylums" where sexually active teens of all descriptions, from single moms to rape victims, could be cloistered away from the respectable population, and made to do their laundry for them. You know, like in that Judi Dench movie.
This is all a result of a medieval tradition that Mary Magdalene, one of Christ's disciples in the New Testament, was herself once a wicked, wicked woman. She was identified with the "woman taken in adultery" whom Jesus saved from stoning, or the "sinful" woman who anoints Jesus' feet with oil in Luke chapter 7. Or even both. There's only one problem: Mary Magdalene appears in all four Gospels, and none of the four authors ever identify her as doing anything of the kind.
In fact, if you go solely by the biblical account, Mary Magdalene is one of the most prominent and exemplary of the disciples. She's mentioned by name more often than most of the twelve male apostles, and has a prominent role at both the crucifixion and the resurrection, when she's the first person to see the resurrected Lord. So quit slut-shaming Mary Magdalene! Her sex life is none of your business.
Quick Quiz: What English adjective is derived from "Magdalene," due to centuries of oil paintings depicting Mary Magdalene as weeping guiltily?
Ken Jennings is the author of six books, most recently his Junior Genius Guides, Because I Said So!, and Maphead. He's also the proud owner of an underwhelming Bag o' Crap. Follow him at ken-jennings.com or on Twitter as @KenJennings.