Rant Medusa is ugly

An interesting thing about the etymology of the word "ugly" that goes to your point – it is from "Old Norse uggligr 'to be dreaded' from ugga 'to dread'" according to the OED. So "ugly" is actually a very powerful word too.

I love this post, I’m going to try and draw her because your post has inspired me :)

Women/female mythical beings should be allowed to be ugly. All sympathetic characters are portrayed as beautiful because apparently beauty is synonymous with goodness. It’s stupid, and reductive.

I was bullied horribly as a little girl because I was deemed “ugly” I was small, scrawny, with unfashionable clothes and hair, braces and glasses. I was convinced I was completely hideous and had (and still have tbh) zero self esteem. All the fairytales and movies and books had female protagonists who were beautiful. It seemed to me like good things only happened to beautiful girls. Little boys aren’t taught that being handsome is the be all and end all.

I apparently grew into my looks (which could send me off on another rant about how shallow people are depending on your appearance) ... but it remains a pet peeve of mine that female protagonists must be beautiful. They aren’t allowed to be plain or old, let alone downright unattractive. Being resourceful or clever or funny or brave seems to come secondary to being physically attractive.

People talk about diversity (a good thing for sure) but no matter her race or her sexual orientation the female protagonist will be conventionally attractive. Not much of a message to send to girls, not everyone can be physically beautiful, but that doesn’t make someone worth any less.

Men will rape animals, children, each other and elderly women as well as every other age and appearance of women.

A woman’s appearance doesn’t cause rape and a woman’s appearance won’t protect her.

What a phenomenal, thought-provoking post! This reminds me of many female saints, in order to ward off suitors, praying to be made ugly, so they could devote themselves to prayers, a convent, etc. Regardless of what one thinks of the patriarchal religions that inspired that behavior, it was women who desired their own autonomy.

I dont know if you've ever seen the deity Kali but you'll resonate based on what you've written. Shes depicted with the heads of men around her neck and standing on a man. Shes rage strength and motherhood in reality and a very powerful figure.

We don't know if she is ugly or not, because if we look at her we're turned to stone

I love this rant. I always felt that Athena was trying to protect Medusa, not curse her. Not to mention that women were also forbidden from Medusa's island so that she couldn't accidentally harm another woman. Athena allowed Medusa vengeance and protection.

I like this. It might interest you to know that accordibg to Hesiod, Medusa was always a gorgon. He doesn't mention her being attractive (although she does have sex with Poseidon). The "beautiful maiden" thing is an Ovidian invention.

I love snakes. They're so misunderstood, and one thing a lot of people don't get about them is that generally, if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone too. And that seems pretty appropriate for Medusa's story.

Forever ago on tumblr there was a tiny movement started called “girlmonstering” where women would use makeup the “wrong” ways and make themselves ugly on purpose as a middle finger to the society/men who insisted they be beautiful. I was so sad it didn’t gain more traction.

Well, the thing is, if we actually met a woman with snakes for hair in real life, most of us would be pretty horrified at her looks regardless of the shape of her facial features, so it's kind of academic, really. I've even seen descriptions of her that say she had wings and also brass talons for fingers. Not exactly Conventional Woman. All those dudes are doing when they try to give her a pretty face is justify what amounts to near-bestiality. Which, we already know they're into that, but now they're telling on themselves.

On a slight tangent, one thing I appreciate about UK entertainment media versus the USA's is that British actresses are allowed to look normal and you see a wide range of faces. After I got immersed in that for a while, I almost couldn't go back to American stuff because I'm tired of everyone without a penis looking like a wannabe Barbie doll. And these days, with the trans thing, even some of the people with penises are Barbie-fying themselves. Dude. No. Wear your own face.