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Abstract
The myth of Medusa as the petrifying woman, a monster, who is herself decapitated for her beauty and her powers to transfix has been circulated widely in western mythology and culture. She has been allegorized as the figure of supreme feminine beauty, sexual desire, of rebellion, punishment and inflicted terror. Helene Cixous in her essay, "The Laugh of the Medusa" uses the myth of Medusa and counteracts the millennia of misogynist depiction of women and their sexuality. In fact, it was mainly in this essay that Cixous introduced the concept of L'ecriture feminine writing, which concentrates on the representation of the feminine body and questions the male oriented thought process which suppresses female voice. It is one of the most influential theoretical constructs for women writing in the contemporary times, using which Cixous criticizes Freud's understanding of female sexuality as a lack and Lacan's idea of phallus being the ultimate signifier of authority and control.
Women, often believed to be "the other" gender has always been understood and explained in terms of binary opposites, as whatever the man is the woman is not. In this process of othering, myths are often used as the most powerful tools by patriarchy to subordinate women. Many writers depend upon the ancient myths to negotiate such patriarchal ideologies. As a result, women in literature, especially in mythologies are either silent or have been largely misrepresented and portrayed negatively. The lack of male characteristics and qualities make women inferior, according to the general patriarchal beliefs but with the support and encouragement of various feminist movements, many writers have made attempts to rewrite and reinterpret these myths. Such attempts challenge the prevailing ambivalent or stereotypical representation of women by fostering a feminist ideology that rejects patriarchal bias.
Throughout history, women have been excluded from any kind of writing that could allow them to contribute in the making of history and culture. Being considered less intellectual, women have been, over centuries tamed to be silent, especially when it comes to expressing their needs in the dominant world of men. Therefore, one of the major concerns of the feminist theory was the way, women's ability to speak gets silenced, both in relation to sexist situations and to the way in which...