Anthony K Lai, Period 7, 12/7/23

Anthony K Lai

Modern Mythology 2024

Literacy & Learning

Medusa #MeToo Sculpture

    Recently in class we went over the ending of Stone Blind and in the lesson we discussed a sculpture in the MeToo movement (a movement to expose and convict rapists/sexual assaulters that held positions of power or influence) that was of Medusa, holding Perseus’ head after having decapitated him. The class came up with a few interpretations of what the sculpture represented, noting how she had taken Perseus’ head when it had been Poseidon that had raped her. Someone connected that choice to how gods didn’t face consequences for their actions, others chose to view Perseus as a representation of the justice system at large rather than the individual rapists that were convicted during the movement. I agreed with this sentiment since the movement really was women taking justice (perseus) into their own hands and bringing light to popular people actually being rapists when they had previously been ignored or silenced due to these people’s reputation. I think the sculpture is an overall effective representation of the movement since even if you didn’t know the story of Medusa and saw it the way we did, you would still see the statue as women taking down their oppressors.
    However, reading through the article I found myself befuddled at the segment on the twitter comment that sighed at how the statue was created by a man when the MeToo movement was started by women. It got me wondering if men really do have the right to join the MeToo movement; I came to the conclusion that of course men can, why shouldn’t we support the opposite sex, we aren’t opposing teams, we are people. I like to believe everybody has a valid opinion in the world, and to take in their opinions to have an open mind about things, but this serves as an example for why I should have a filter on what I take in. Additionally, not everybody in the world is as good as they appear to be because this advocate for women also bashes men for doing the same (misandry), showing they care more about them being seen as an advocate than actually caring about the movement. I also see the comment as an example of when people in the world get too caught up in mass media and can’t think critically for themselves to discern good from bad, creating unjustified hate and dividing us as a society.