Page 124 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

Both Lilith and Medusa exemplify the struggle women face when trying to proudly own
and reclaim their femininity and sexuality. This struggle has been going on for centuries, from
women who chose prostitution over married life to women trying to exist with being
hypersexualized. In modern times, Medusa and similar figures serve as symbols of
empowerment for women. Hélène Cixous stated, “you only have to look at the Medusa straight
on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful, and she’s laughing” (Dexter 40). While
some women, like Cixous, see Medusa as a beautiful and misunderstood woman, other women in
the feminist movement see Medusa as an angry victim and identify with her rage. One example
of these women is Patricia Klindienst Joplin, who explains why so many artists have been drawn
to Medusa and her story: “Behind the victim’s head that turns men to stone may lie the victim
stoned to death by men…if Medusa has become a central figure for the woman artist to struggle
with, it is because, herself a silenced woman, she has been used to silence other women” (Dexter
40).

In 1972, a feminist artist named Carolee Schneemann did a performance art piece titled
Interior Scroll. In this piece, Schneemann stripped in front of the crowd and painted all over her
body. She then pulled a scroll out of her vagina and read it aloud to the audience. On the scroll
were quotes from a filmmaker with whom Schneemann had conversed. The filmmaker had stated
that there were traits women could never possess, such as logic and rationality (The Art Story,
“Feminist Art Movement, Artists, and Major Works”). This statement supported the stereotypical
belief of men being the superior sex while women are weaker and controlled by their ever-
changing emotions. Schneemann’s performance demolished this idea. In pulling the scroll out of
her vagina, she was exemplifying the absurdity of a man telling others what it was like to be a
woman and alluding to the feminine superpower that is giving birth. In this performance,

123