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'Anti-man': NYC statue of 'rape victim' Medusa holding Perseus's head sparks furious #MeToo debate

The 7-foot bronze statue is going to be placed directly across from New York County Criminal Court but some users find it suggestive of creating notions that men are bad

The famous statue of ‘Medusa With the Head of Perseus’ is apparently going to teach a lesson of feminism as it is coming to the streets of New York to shame criminal men entering the New York County Criminal Court. The legendary 7-foot bronze statue made by Argentine-Italian artist Luciano Garbati will be installed directly across from the New York County Criminal Court.

The court has been a place for the prosecution of high profile abuse cases that include the recent ones of Harvey Weinstein charged as a sexual offender. The location of the installation of the statue is highly relevant and interesting given the wave of ‘Me Too’ movement that revealed sexual offenders including various celebrated personalities. 

A reporter shared the image of the statue and tweeted, “whoa. a seven-foot-tall bronze sculpture of "Medusa With The Head of Perseus" will be installed across the street from 100 Centre St., Manhattan's criminal courthouse this weekend, a commentary on the #MeToo.” 

How Garbati’s Medusa shames men

One would be very interested to know how artist Garbati has empowered Medusa, a rape victim, with this creatively magnificent work. The artist has totally reversed the actual story to make the statue relevant to today’s times.

The story of Medusa goes like this: “Medusa was a maiden in the temple of Athena, who was stalked and raped by Poseidon. Athena, in a rage, banishes and curses Medusa with a monstrous head of snakes and a gaze that turns men to stone. Medusa is herself blamed and punished for the crime of which she was the victim; she is cast away as a monster and then with the cruel assistance of Athena and Poseidon, eventually is hunted-down and beheaded by the epic hero Perseus, who displays her head as a trophy on his shield.” 

A statue based on this story was created by Benvenuto Cellini in a 16th Century Florentine bronze masterpiece. There he showed ‘Perseus with the Head of Medusa’. So if you find the original classical story as a testament to injustice, then this is primarily what Garbati also felt. Garbati asked on the shaming and torture inflicted on Medusa, “how can a triumph be possible if you are defeating a victim.”

Later, this question made him reimagine the story of Medusa with a feminist outlook. As a result, in 2018, he made his version of the statue that will be now installed across the NYC Criminal Court. This statue is an antidote to the previous statue by Cellini. In his, work Garbati re-interprets Medusa and makes her stand as a defiant, rather than a rape victim. She is portrayed staring down at the observer, holding the severed head of Perseus, one of the many men who sought to abuse and entrap her. 

The statue and #MeToo movement

Garbati’s Medusa personified resistance worldwide. It inspired thousands of women to reach out and share their own stories of abuse when Garbati first posted a photograph of the statue that he completed in 2018, on his social media, as reported by MWTH Project.

Now that the statue is going to be installed near the criminal court, it has sparked controversies over its #MeToo message. Some users on social media find it suggestive of creating notions that men are bad while others raised issues with the interpretation of myth. At the same time, some users hailed the move of installation as a reflection on #MeToo. A user disliked the statue’s comment on #MeToo.“I'm sure there's a lot of depth in the Medusa statue that I'm not seeing, but it kinda seems like it's trying to make the blandest possible statement about #MeToo while offering "boys bad, girls good" to the cis women and "ooooo titties" to the cis men.” 

Another concurred on connecting the anti-men narrative with the Medusa statue, “It's anti-men, which isn't even a play on medusa – which is man vs gorgon. Pathetic.”  Another user raised issues with the appearance of Medusa and her color, “Earlier today someone also pointed out that the founder of #MeToo is Tarana Burke, a Black woman, so this statue erases that as well, especially since there are convincing arguments that Medusa herself was Black.” A woman raised another concern, “Ok, I can't be the only woman who's super skeptical of a dude attaching his artwork to #MeToo.” 

A user felt the artist did not re-imagine the statue in the right way and played with the myth, “Now that is definitely the perfect symbol for the #MeToo movement, especially since the artist doesn't know Mythology and has the Medusa cutting off the wrong man's head. This statue says #MeToo movement targets the wrong men.” Some liked the statue, “No but tbh it's a pretty apt and appropriate statement piece given the Medusa myth. I mean, Medusa gets raped, and as a punishment, Athena turns her into a monster, who Perseus kills and then gives her head to Athena. I can see why the #Metoo movement likes role reversal.”