Webster's English Dictionary defines a prostitute as, first, "… a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money; whore; harlot"; second, "… a man who engages in sexual acts for money" (1996:1553). According to one scholar, "Cultic prostitution is a practice involving the female and at times the male devotees of fertility deities, who presumably dedicated their earnings to their deity." The "Sacred Marriage" rite was one of "the motives of the practice, particularly in Mesopotamia," where the king had intercourse with "a temple prostitute.When God Was a Woman sets out to explore this question, as well as to explore what Goddess-worshiping societies looked like. Using archaeological evidence, Stone argues that when much of humanity practiced the religion of the Goddess, the status of women was much higher than in male-deity worshiping Judeo-Christian societies. Accordingly, the rise of the Judeo-Christian religion, she argues, coincided with the decline of the the status of women in society.benevolent matriarchal society and Goddess-reverent traditions (including Ancient Egypt were attacked, undermined and ultimately destroyed almost completely, by the ancient tribes including Hebrews and later the early Christians.To do this they attempted to destroy any visible symbol of the sacred feminine- including artwork, sculpture, weavings and literature. The reason being that they wanted the Sacred Masculine to become the dominant power, and rule over women and Goddess energies.