The subject
of sexual politics of Greek and Roman mythology is very degrading to the
feelings, rights, and respect of women in today’s world. The myths describe
women as being monsters, hated, cursed, deceiving, sexual, and claim to desire
to be treated this way. This seems inconceivable for them to believe this way
yet we believe and celebrate this same misogyny in today’s world.
In the
Odyssey, by Homer, almost all of the monsters were women and blamed as the
cause of most of Odysseus’ hardships. Calypso was categorized as a sexual,
persuasive, nymph who keeps Odysseus on her island for 8 years. The Sirens and
Scylla were ruthless monsters who’s goal was to kill Odysseus and his men
whether it was by biting off their heads or a sensual song they sang to lead
them into their trap. Helen was essentially the cause of the war and was stolen
away yet she seemed pretty calm and collect about it all. There is no mention
of it being wrong for the women to act this way.
Other myths include Pandora’s Box and
the Myth of Europa which both show this Misogyny. Pandora is blamed and is the
original cause for all man kind to experience the disease and sickness and bad
things in life. Europa is celebrated on the Euro coin when she was stolen by a
bull. The beautiful and some would say “worshiped” statue of Bernini’s “Rape of
Persephone” has Zeus and Persephone intertwined and spiraled upwards. Why do we
celebrate these stories and works of art when the subject matter is so horrid?
Maybe we as humans love a story with a “good vs. evil” theme?
Stories
older than Disney have always portrayed the “damsel in distress” who is stolen
and tied up and thrown on a railroad track. She then, of course, is rescued by
her hero soon after. But, who didn’t love the excitement of the anticipating
train coming closer and closer? If things like this would happen in real life
everyone involved might suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for years
afterwards, and may not even be able to speak of the experience, instead of
brining it up in small talk. Yet, somehow we don’t even notice that this kind
of thing is still all over the movie screen, our radios, and other forms of
entertainment.
“Twilight”
for example describes a girl who falls in love with a boy who not only can kill
her because he is a vampire, but the fact that he is so strong he can bruise
her from holding her too tight. “Twilight” is one of the biggest things that
has hit this world and has gotten a hold of every 40-year-old “Team Edward”
mothers who seriously need a life. Or for example, the song “Love the Way You
Lie” by Rihanna and Eminem, that lyrics describe a conversation of a man who
has beat his significant other and promises to not do it again. Yet what does Rihanna
think about this? The same Rihanna who was actually beaten Chris Brown. She
says that she “loves the way he lies.” This song is played more on the radio
more than a Jason Mraz song. And lastly I’d like to bring up that recently I
have found it significantly disturbing that during Halloween you can actually
pay an extra fee at a haunted house to have the actors not just scare you, but
touch you and carry you away from all your friends in a fabricated horror story
environment.
This is
because gender roles today are still a little bit skewed. Woman in magazines,
television, and movies are portrayed as scandalous, over-emotional, rude,
jealous, loud, and what they call “independent.” They claim that if a woman is
all of these things it breaks her away from the stigma of being a silent
housewife controlled by man. Aren’t these similar attributes that perhaps the
Greek God Hera has? Zeus cheated on her more than any mythological story. Was
Zeus blamed for his actions? No. He is still considered the God of all Greek
Gods. We still see this today that
when a woman is raped we still tend to blame the women on either being too
flirty, too vulnerable, having too many drinks, or even blaming her for putting
herself in the environment in the first place.
What is our
solution to this? How can we stop this misogyny towards woman when it has been
around since the Greeks and Romans? D. Todd Christopherson says, ““The world
has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough
women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who
are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and
fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more
goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough
popularity; we need more purity.” If women respect themselves enough and hold
themselves to a higher standard we can break this Misogyny.
Unfortunately
life isn’t as romantic as a Jane Austin book, is not as thrilling as an Alfred
Hitchcock film, and is not as epic as a Marvel series. Because of this we must
not celebrate real rape victims by acting them out in haunted houses. If women
adapt this as apart of their entertainment and become as “independent” as the
media describes us to be then we become the mythological monsters like Scylla,
Calypso, Hera, the Furies, and the Sirens who were the start of this misogyny
in Greek and Roman mythology.
