7. Male Sacrifices Were Gifted Wives Before Execution
Human sacrifice stood at the core of Aztec religion. Men were called upon to serve as avatars of the god Tezcatlipoca, the god of time, before being ritually murdered. These men served as avatars known as ixptla for a year before their ritual sacrifice. In the last month of the year before their sacrifice, the avatars were gifted four women to take as wives.
The four women would not only create wealth for the avatar during the last month of his life through weaving but they also undoubtedly served as sex objects to make the last month of the avatar’s experience more enjoyable. It is not clear what status these women helped after the man’s sacrifice and if they were able to remarry later.
Women served a genuinely terrible role both as sacrifices themselves and in gifts to male sacrifices. They were victims of rape no matter which position they served, as the female sacrifices were “given” to a male ruler for sexual use before their ritual murder. It would appear no element of the Aztec religion offered women a role that would save them from sexual assault. Even the ritualistic part of women in the Aztec religion was that of the prostitute, submitting themselves to warriors after battle.