The Power Of The Gorgons: The Corruption Of Women In Literature

On the other hand, in literature the woman can also be the catalyst for chivalrous action on the part of the hero in following the “damsel in distress” narrative. This woman is always pure, pious, weak, and in danger of being corrupted, typically by sexuality. In these situations, the hero is saving her from being exposed to physical harm, the loss of naivete, or the tainting of her virginity, assuming that she is automatically defenseless due to her gender. Curiously, this is the woman who is held up as a positive example to the young audience, whereas the other is demonized; even though the audience is not conscious of these undertones, the formative age at which this narrative is exposed to them will ensure that the subconscious messages

In the context of the myth of Medusa, Laura Sjoberg and Caron Gentry argue that

“The sexuality that factored in the creation of the Gorgons [through rape by Posideon] was also present in their violent capacities. The special power of the Gorgons was their ability to turn men to stone if those men gazed upon their monstrous beauty. The message of these myths ties women’s violence to sex, and implies that both violent and sexual deviations from prescribed gender roles will ‘damage all of civilization’” (8).

Moreover, they cite the biblical example of the sexualization of Jezebel as another example of this trend, which explains how religious doctrine reinforces these gender roles. These two instances are both religiously based and convey how ingrained the association of female violence and sexual expression aids in the continued societal demonization of the female expression of masculine tendencies, including violence and, by extension, the usage of

Inherently, these works show how the societal trend of male hegemony affected the portrayal of female aggression and violent action. The idea that women could be violent solely in situations of evil linked with sexual deviance and expression is one corroborated by many thinkers of the time. In The Art of War, Machiavelli states that that “all women within an army were prostitutes,” pursuing “those vile avocations which commonly make soldiers idle and seditious”(qtd. Sjoberg and Gentry 9). He goes further in his assumptions about female violent and sexual expression, believing that a man must beat a woman to subdue these instincts that lead not only to her corruption but the man’s corruption as well (qtd. Sjoberg and Gentry 9). The historical association of sexuality and violence as deviations from traditional femininity and therefore innately unnatural and wrong plays into what is deemed the “double transgression theory” of female violence (Keitner 84-86). This theory postulates that when a woman is violent she is not only harming others, but she is also betraying her gender, hence the association of unbridled sexuality (or the expression of the animus) which defiles the woman (Sjoberg and Gentry 7). (The double transgression theory, however, is applicable to most unlawful or immoral