Medusa is the monster of Greek mythology with serpents for hair who had the power to turn anyone to stone who gazed into her eyes. In some versions of her ancestry, she was the product of the union of two monsters. In others, she was originally a beautiful nymph who was seduced by the God Poseidon after which she became a monster. In either event, she was beheaded by the God Perseus upon which two beings, the centaur Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor emerged from the wound. The fact that she was doubly possessed by these two beings who emerged upon her death is symbolic of her inner duality.

Medusa represents an androgyne in her brutal seductiveness. She entices her victims as a beautiful woman and reduces them instantly to stone with powers that equal and exceed those of men. The culmination of her "sexual" encounters with both men and women was highly unconventional, fitting neither the definition of male nor female sexual experience.

 

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