The Laugh of the Medusa/Helene Cixous/1976
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173239?origin=JSTOR-pdf (SY)
‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ strongly advocates women to write because writing has a powerful connection to women's bodies. The story is about a beautiful woman named Medusa who was turned into a horrifying monster by another woman named Athena who resented her for her beauty. Medusa was pure until she was raped by Posiden who Athena was in love with. Athena punished Medusa for this even though she was forced into the act and turned her into a monster with venomous snakes as hair. Any time that someone looked at her they would turn to stone. In the end of the story Medusa was beheaded by Perseus, son of Zeus. Perseus then continued to use Medusa’s head to keep evil away, therefore she is not a monster but a source of good.
The author, Cixous, explains that the importance of women “writing themselves” roots from the fact that men have suppressed women for centuries and it is time to break away from the past and accept the new ways that feminism is shaping the future.‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ was meant to communicate this through a story. Cixous questions: why should women be afraid to express their sexual desires? There is a common double standard for women to be expected to say or act a certain way that does not apply to men. Examples of this are women are expected to act “ladylike” and to dress properly and modest whereas men typically are not judged for how they act or dress. Cixous states that writing has been pretty much run by men for centuries who use their platform to usually write about political matters. She talks about the New Women Movement which finally allows women the chance to let their voices be heard without being judged or ridiculed for it. This movement has begun a transformation of the social and cultural structure of society and continues to bring the possibility of change for all women in all different kinds of communities.
I strongly agree with this compelling argument from Cixous. There is something omnipotent about having the freedom to express yourself when writing, and that feeling should never be repressed from any person, man or woman. There is no question that women have been seen as the “weaker gender” for hundreds of years. Men have directly or indirectly dictated the reasoning behind just about everything including writing, solely due to women being looked down upon for no apparent reason. Women have always had something to say but they were just always too afraid to speak up. Fortunately, times are different now and we have more freedom to voice our truths, yet we still have further to go when it comes to being respected by those who continue to silence our voices.
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