Medusa

The image is of a woman holding a green colored snake in her hands, and has a bunch of snakes on her head. The background, although hazy, seems to consist of trees, which makes one think the woman is in the woods. The woman has long black nails, red lips, and piercing blue-brown eyes, that overall make her look intimidating. Although we can see her only from her shoulders up, we can assume she is looking at someone, unafraid.

The image used is from the Greek legend of Medusa. It shows a woman who has snakes on her head instead of hair, which according to the myth can turn anyone who looks into stone.

While, historically, Medusa has been portrayed as a villain, in reality it is quite different. Medusa was raped by the Greek god Poseidon in Athena’s temple, and as a manner of protection, Athena gave Medusa the power to turn anyone who looks at her into stone, to avoid a similar situation in the future.

In popular media, Medusa has been portrayed as the ‘bad guy’, which makes one reflect on the misogynistic nature of our society — any woman who dares to protect herself or who doesn’t allow men to hold power over her are treated as the villains. This sentiment holds true for Medusa, as well as the women in our society. An instance of this can be whenever a woman comes forward with her story about sexual assault, they are hardly ever believed. The women are labelled as attention seeking and are called derogatory names because they didn’t let their attackers hold power over them.

It always comes down to women to protect themselves as well as others. In the case of Medusa, She was raped by Poseidon, but no one said anything to him about it; instead, Athena had to give Medusa the means necessary to protect herself, because as a woman, she would be in similar situations multiple times, no matter how much she tries to avoid them. In today’s society, the situation is no different. It’s always women who are told to dress appropriately or always carry pepper spray or not to go anywhere alone especially after the dark, but no one ever tells men to not attack women. Despite all that, at the end of the day, even if a woman is dressed appropriately, is carrying weapons to protect herself, takes self defense classes, or goes anywhere with someone, the chances of her being attacked — sexually or otherwise — are the same.

Despite all that, women continue to go out and try to enjoy themselves, albeit less than men do, because it always comes down to them to protect themselves.

Misogyny can be defined as “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.” but how does that tie into my chosen area of inquiry/focus? That’s easy. Society makes us believe that women are supposed to do as men say without complaining and that if they complain about it, they are not being good women like they’re supposed to be. Thus, when women speak up against women, people begin to hate them and try to bring them down again to the place beneath men where they are expected to be anyway. Hence, the dislike or prejudice against women comes into play.

This is a way of thinking that we need to change, whether it’s ingrained in women because of their upbringing, or it’s seen in men in the way they behave and are brought up to think like. Similar to Medusa, women who stand up for themselves will be portrayed by the society as the villains, but if women can rise above that and help even one person realize that their ingrained misogyny is harmful, it’ll be a better world that we live in.