the mythical Medusa

Medusa was once a beautiful young woman with beautiful hair and a symbol of fertility. Men would fall for her hair and even the male gods had lustful desires for her. She once made a judgmental remark about the beauty of the sacred temple of Athena being incomparable to her beauty. In the sacred temple of Athena, the sea god Poseidon forcefully raped her. The goddess Athena found out about this desecration which took place in her sacred temple. In her rage, she punished Medusa because Poseidon was her uncle, the god of the Sea. Athena being the virgin goddess of War herself could not point fingers to blame Poseidon for his deeds in a male order society. Secondly, Athena also held part jealousy against Medusa's beauty. So, she turned Medusa's beautiful hair into snakes and deformed her into a monster's body and cursed her that any males regardless of their lustful desires, who would gaze into her eyes would turn them into a stone. Turning male body into stone not only implied death for them but also implied castration and reduction of a fertile male population. In a sense, she was turned into a symbol of infertility.

Medusa, in her despair, would now turn anybody into a stone with her gaze. Later Athena became aware that this curse could be yielded as a power to turn enemies into stone. Athena felt how her curse upon Medusa had made Medusa even stronger and powerful. Athena wanted to kill her and sent Perseus to assassinate her. Perseus was the perfect candidate for her assasination and Perseus trickfully slayed Medusa's head without looking at her face. The cutoff head still retained its powers. Perseus then used Medusa's cutoff head to defeat his enemies by showing it towards his enemies and turning them into stone. Later Perseus handed it over to Athena and then she placed Medusa's head into her shield which gave Athena even more power.

Moral: Stories from patriarchal society. Survival of the fittest. Gods are not flawless. Poseidon got away with his misdeeds and those who suffered from his actions were Athena and Medusa, collective victims of patriarchy. The misinformed (Perseus) perpetuates the problem. Those who are portrayed as monsters might not necessarily be a monster and those who seem aesthetically perfect could be shockingly evil.