For my topic I would like to examine the cross-section between the modern concept of vagina dentata and the female monsters of Ancient Greek mythology. If I were to follow this topic, the text[s] I would want to focus on would probably be The Odyssey and/or the Theogony, as I could discuss the dog heads emerging from Scylla’s unspecified nether-regions, the literal man-absorbing whirlpool that is Charybdis, and the monsters that Echidna births that later go on to terrorize Hercules.
I discussed the topics I had been thinking about with Professors Asya Sigelman and Erin Lam, I think there is plenty that can be examined between female sexuality and female monstrosity, even from a modern perspective on gender and sexuality. I’ve taken enough courses in Gender and Sexuality Studies that I think it will be possible to write on this topic without being reductive about what gender and sexuality are and how they work, and I am willing to put in the work to apply it to ancient stories.
Questions:
- How do monstrosity and reproductive organs work hand in hand? How do sexualized female characters cause terror through the ability to beget both life and destruction?
- Why is it relevant and/or important to examine ancient stories through a modern gendered lens? What is to be gained from looking at this cross-section?
- In stories like the Odyssey, does it empower female characters to have this great destructive power, or does it demonize them as chaotic creatures to be tamed by male conquerors?
There’s also stories about Scylla in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, including I think her transformation into a monstrous though I’m not completely certain if it’s the same form that she has in the Odyssey. I don’t know for sure if her presentation there would go along with what you’re doing, but I think it’s worth at least checking out Scylla’s monstrosity in Ovid to see if it’s something you could maybe use along with Homer