The trafficking of girls is rife in the poorer countries of Africa. Families marry off their daughters at a relatively young age to secure a bride price. Many men use this practice to acquire multiple wives, while other, unmarried men form gangs that terrorize the region and carry out raids. For the girls, this means slavery, rape, and the pain of unwanted pregnancies.

It was much the same in ancient Greece, where Artemis grew up. Men were cruel—nothing but cruel—to women. It is remarkable that things have improved somewhat since then. Artemis’s family, too, wanted to sell her to a husband—to Orion. Apollo loved his sister. Together, they were strong and went hunting; this allowed them to live independently, so Artemis had no need for a husband.
They claimed it was a hunting accident. Apollo had pointed to a speck bobbing in the sea and asked, “Artemis, can you hit that spot with your arrow?” and she replied, “Yes, of course.” That is how they both accidentally shot Orion. Artemis remained a virgin and did not have to marry. This made her famous. Artemis did everything right, and so she was a goddess. As a goddess, she excelled at things other women could not do, and other women looked up to her as a role model. The people of Ephesus built her the largest temple in the world at the time and adorned her statue with everything Artemis had ever desired. She had always been driven to hunt animals for survival, so they decorated her statue with the creatures she sought in the hunt—deer and lions—as well as honeybees, flowers, and figures of women celebrating a festival. Artemis received everything from the women of Ephesus so that she would always fare well, and she was loved forever.