Medusa\'s Laugh
Legend has it that Medusa was a terrible female creature. Her head of hair consisted of dangling snakes, hissing ferociously. Her eyes were so deadly that anyone she looked upon would turn to stone.
Legend has it that Medusa was a terrible female creature. Her head of hair consisted of dangling snakes, hissing ferociously. Her eyes were so deadly that anyone she looked upon would turn to stone.
Medusa became a symbol of terror that terrified her enemies. Myths about Medusa were passed on from time to time by poets such as Homer, Hesiod and Ovid.
Medusa was depicted as a monster who was finally defeated by the protagonist Perseus. As killing Medusa by beheading the woman was not enough, Perseus also carried the head as a weapon. Because, those deadly eyes were still effective in turning anyone to stone. The mutilated head of Medusa was used by Perseus to defeat the sea giant, thereby strengthening his position as a famous hero engraved in the sky.
Also read: White Parade
The truth is that Medusa\'s story tells about a woman\'s tragedy. Initially Medusa was a priest devoted sincerely to the temple of Athena. However, her loyalty to the goddess Athena was met with bitterness.
Medusa refused because as a priest, she would devote her soul and body to wisdom.
Once upon a time, Poseidon, mahadeva of the ocean, revealed himself and seduced Medusa. Medusa refused because as a priest, she would devote her soul and body to wisdom. Poseidon was furious, not accepting that a human would dare to oppose the power of a god. Poseidon raped Medusa in the holy temple.
With great pain and trauma, Medusa complained to Athena, because the rape resulted in pregnancy. She demanded justice to the goddess. Instead of punishing Poseidon for his crime, Athena chided Medusa for being considered to have desecrated the temple.
She also blamed Medusa for the pregnancy, even doubting Poseidon\'s crime. Athena\'s final verdict was to curse Medusa into a monster.
Also read: The Sacred Tree
A critical reading of this myth will reveal that Medusa was a victim of rape who was even blamed for daring to reveal the truth. This story is still very relevant to real events in the present.
Women victims of sexual violence face difficulties in reporting their cases to the authorities because their words are often doubted. People are often biased toward the victims and judge them. Victims who report violence often experience criminalization, so many women choose to be silent and harbor grief.
In a number of cases, the sad fact is that victims of rape are encouraged to marry the perpetrators of violence as a form of responsibility.
Sulistyowati Irianto, a professor of law at the University of Indonesia, underlined the importance of legal reform, and that is why the ratification of the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence is so important (Kompas, 12/10/2020). This bill aims to protect women as legal subjects. However, this legal reform has been slow.
It is time that such terms need to be changed to be constructive and affirmative towards the spirit of equality.
Language is an arena of power. Women continue to struggle to create new words to promote equality. Discriminatory language still shackles women. Even in the Indonesian dictionary, in the subentry of the word "woman", there are prejudiced phrases, such as "bitch, obscene, naughty, and evil." It is time that such terms need to be changed to be constructive and affirmative towards the spirit of equality.
Also read: Spice Route
Hélène Cixous through her essay titled Tawa Sang Medusa (Medusa’s Laugh) said that the liberation of the female body is achieved through language. She emphasized the importance of women to write, to narrate their lives. Writing by women is a way to show women as individuals, as themselves.
Literature is an underground passage that enables women to be in guerrilla to form new words, new horizons, hope for a new world.
This is like what was done by Ursula K Le Guin, a science fiction writer, and also a feminist. The fantasy stories she composed represent her anxiety at seeing the violence and injustice occurring in this world. Her work titled The Word for the World is a Forest, published in 1972, was greeted by literary connoisseurs as a story of a fantasy genre that critically attacked colonialism and the exploitation of the environment.
She described the cruel process of colonization on Planet Athshe, looting, rape, to the destruction of local indigenous cultures by humans. Women and the earth are in the same boat as being tortured and persecuted by a patriarchal cultural system.
In my childhood, I was afraid of leak. Leak resides in rivers, on beaches, in the silence of forests struggling with magic. People were prohibited from disturbing sacred places. They were not allowed to cause anger to Ni Rangda, the queen of the leak.
When I was growing up, I learned various sides of the myth of Calon Arang. Calon Arang is a story from the 11th century that tells the life of a widow who lives in Girah. She was accused of spreading the plague using black magic.
Through a performance titled Defense of Dirah, she protested against the stigma of being a widow, or the image of an evil witch.
Cok Sawitri, a female Balinese artist, conveyed a different perspective on Calon Arang. Through a performance titled Defense of Dirah, she protested against the stigma of being a widow, or the image of an evil witch.
Also read: Machine and Magic
According to her, Calon Arang is a woman who is tough to challenge power. "All fortresses have gaps, so does arrogance, power cracks are no exception. By the wink of my eyes." Her intelligence and supernatural power made the royal party worried. For Cok Sawitri, Calon Arang is the protector of the injured earth. The mother who shelters those who are sidelined.
I no longer feel afraid of Rangda, I even feel calm. We need to be angry at the injustice that happens. Calon Arang\'s anger, similar to Medusa\'s, is anger that will not take a rest until tyranny is gone.
SARAS DEWI, Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Indonesia
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).