Women’s Bodies in Myths

One of my classmates is analyzing several poems that offer differing perspectives of the myth Leda and the Swan. I’ve heard of the myth and since I’m an English major I’ve definitely encountered it a fair share of times, but for some reason I could not remember what it was specifically about. When it comes to mythologies there is always a lot of lore and extensive family trees that are important and sometimes necessary to understand certain myths, but if it’s not your focus or passion, the hundreds of names can easily slip your mind.

Once I got a refresher on what the myth was about it made a lot of sense that it would be used for the research paper we were assigned since the topic is women’s bodies. What I noticed immediately is that the language used to describe Leda was not only focused on her body, but her helplessness. She was described as white, staggering, like a lost puppy or something. One of the other poems likened her to a statue with a gold collar, and I thought that imagery was just as frustrating. Leda is the victim in this myth, every version of it, but any description of Zeus was about how great and strong he was. What’s worse is that I kind of expected it, which in and of itself speaks volumes about how women are portrayed, because it’s a clue to how they are treated in our reality.