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"These villains, wrote classicist Debbie Felton in a 2013 essay, “all spoke to men’s fear of women’s destructive potential. The myths then, to a certain extent, fulfill a male fantasy of conquering and controlling the female.”
I also particularly liked the bit about the men being afraid of the sphinx because she asked questions they couldn't answer 😂
Thank you so much for posting this. Such a fascinating read. It really emphasizes the disdain men have for women regardless of what we do. We’re hated for being beautiful and we’re hated for being ugly. We’re hated for being good mothers because they’re afraid of the power motherhood gives us. They hate us if we deviate from expectations regarding motherhood. We’re hated and blamed if we birth children with abnormalities. They hate us for being victims of assault. They hate us if our bodies are unruly. They hate us if we’re unpredictable. They hate us if we keep any knowledge to ourselves. And mostly we’re hated and blamed for men feeling vulnerable to us because they covet our superior beauty, influence, and strength.
This must be why the Game of Thrones writers, David Benioff & D.B. Weiss went with Daenerys burning everything to shit in the last season. To say that: if a woman were at the caliber of being able to get the throne, she’d be tOo cRaZy AnD uNsTaBLe to deserve it. If they don’t want to make you a winner, they will turn you into a villain.
Oh I can't wait to read this. I've always loved the story of Medusa and she seems to fit the bill. Also, did you watch the Love, death and robots episode "Jibaro"? (Season3 ep9) Tale as old as time. A woman who self isolates from people in the woods, or a lake, or a cave minding her own business. Entitled men come uninvited expecting to take her life, or her head or her possessions. She fights back with what she has; her snakes for hair, her shrieks, whatever she has to defend herself, but SHE is the evil one.
Love the book "Circe" by Madeleine Miller, that's mentioned in the article. Circe is out there living a cottagecore fantasy, while leveling up away from men.
Another example of misogyny in mythology, is the original f-boy Theseus. After Ariadne helps him escape from the minotaur, he future fakes her by promising her marriage and then leaves her stranded on a deserted island, Naxos. But it doesn't really matter because he's a hero.