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For those who have never heard of the famous biblical story of Samson and Delilah, it’s time you did. Lack of knowledge about this universal story is especially detrimental to those who work in the media: journalists both in print and on TV. This classic story has captured the imaginations of many talented people over the years.

Flemish baroque artists like Peter Paul Rubens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck painted marvelous depictions of the story in oil on large canvases in the 1600s. Charles Camille Saint-Saens wrote the French opera based on the biblical version of Samson and Delilah in 1872.

The lovers’ tale has been recounted in song by the Grateful Dead and in a movie by Cecil B. DeMille, who in 1949 directed the Technicolor movie version of the story. Hedy Lamarr, a truly exquisite brunette, starred as Delilah, and Victor Mature portrayed the strongman Samson. The movie was nominated for four Oscars and won two. All this artistic inspiration was derived from the sexy Biblical story about a man and a woman on opposite sides of warring nations.

The story can be found in Judges 13:3-5 and Numbers 6:1-21. Hebrew strongman Samson falls in love with an enemy spy, Delilah, a Philistine woman and the temptress of Sorek. Delilah seduces Samson and gets him to tell her the secret of his great strength. According to the Bible, Delilah wormed the information she wanted from him in the classical female manner:

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me?”

Eventually, Samson got tired of her nagging — and besides that he was madly in love with the beautiful and clever lady. So he told her his secret. The foolish man.

“No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since Birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

That said, Delilah quickly got the news back to the Philistines, who then were able to capture and disarm Samson.

Why am I telling you this story of seduction and betrayal, you might ask? Well, it’s because of late there’s been a spate of stories about older women raping young boys. This is not a nice thing to do. But it’s also physically impossible.

Every man knows this to be true. Even the dictionary agrees. A woman can be taken sexually by force but not a guy. No way, no how.

Women seduce, men rape. That’s the way it has always been since Eve seduced Adam into taking that dangerous bite of the apple and got them both thrown out of Eden.

Why are we sidestepping around what is the reality of our anatomy?

I believe in equality, but when it comes to sex, women are more equal than men in many ways. A woman’s power is in a man’s weakness for the feminine sex. This makes sense. Men don’t get pregnant, women do. So women should be stronger, both emotionally and rationally. They should be more protective of their vital parts. After all women, in the end, pay the price for whatever it’s called, seduction or rape.

Reading Samson and Delilah in its original form, the Biblical story, makes a perfect case for the difference between the sexes. Women may be physically weaker than men, but if they use their brains they can overpower even the strongest of men. I kind of like that idea, myself.

So I wish the media would own up to the facts of Mother Nature and get their definitions in line with reality. Women seduce men. It says so in the Bible so it must be true, right?

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E-mail Barbara Bova at babova@naplesnews.com.