Predatory goddesses
The long list of goddesses and the mortal men whose children they bore includes Demeter and Iasion, Harmonia and Cadmus, Callirhoe and Chrysaor (Medusa's son), Eos and Tithonus (and Cephalus, and Orion, and Clitus), Thetis and Peleus, Aphrodite and Anchises, and Selene and Endymion. Perhaps these stories consoled grieving families who had lost sons.
I confess got a bit cranky with Lefkowitz's argument, that the gods cannot be role models for men, and that rape by gods does not count as rape. She remarks that the gods (my emphasis) "always employ persuasion (or enchantment) to gain the cooperation of human females, even though they could easily use force." In particular, they use the irresistable power of their glance.
But Lefkowitz goes on to say that "ancient Greek painters did not hesitate to show women protesting and suffering as they are carried off, even by a god", giving an example of "Persephone's anguish", as well as a kylix on which Zeus "is using both his arms to pull Ganymede towards him". How are we to interpret this as gods eschewing the use of force? Why does the abduction end so badly for so many abductees?
What struck me, thinking about all this, is that the gods (and goddesses) who sexually exploit mortals are acting out of that overused word and concept, privilege. If a god wants something, they always get it; what someone else might want simply takes up no space in their mind. Not so different from mortal rapists, then.
(In an unrelated footnote, Lefkowitz suggests that Circe's myth might have been inspired by Ishtar's turning her lovers into animals, citing M.L. West - an interesting idea which I shall pursue.)
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"'Predatory' Goddesses." in Lefkowitz, Mary R. Women in Greek Myth. Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. (A version of the chapter appear in Hesperia and is available online as a PDF.)
I confess got a bit cranky with Lefkowitz's argument, that the gods cannot be role models for men, and that rape by gods does not count as rape. She remarks that the gods (my emphasis) "always employ persuasion (or enchantment) to gain the cooperation of human females, even though they could easily use force." In particular, they use the irresistable power of their glance.
But Lefkowitz goes on to say that "ancient Greek painters did not hesitate to show women protesting and suffering as they are carried off, even by a god", giving an example of "Persephone's anguish", as well as a kylix on which Zeus "is using both his arms to pull Ganymede towards him". How are we to interpret this as gods eschewing the use of force? Why does the abduction end so badly for so many abductees?
What struck me, thinking about all this, is that the gods (and goddesses) who sexually exploit mortals are acting out of that overused word and concept, privilege. If a god wants something, they always get it; what someone else might want simply takes up no space in their mind. Not so different from mortal rapists, then.
(In an unrelated footnote, Lefkowitz suggests that Circe's myth might have been inspired by Ishtar's turning her lovers into animals, citing M.L. West - an interesting idea which I shall pursue.)
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"'Predatory' Goddesses." in Lefkowitz, Mary R. Women in Greek Myth. Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. (A version of the chapter appear in Hesperia and is available online as a PDF.)