Medusa: villain or victim?

In early Greek mythology, Medusa was not always a monster. According to Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”, she was once a beautiful maiden and a priestess of Athena. But then:

• Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena’s temple.

• Instead of punishing Poseidon, Athena punished Medusa by turning her into a Gorgon—her hair became snakes, and her gaze turned people to stone.

This transformation wasn’t about justice—it was about shame and punishment directed at the victim.

Symbol of Patriarchal Control

Over time, Medusa became a symbol of female rage and danger. In art and myth:

• Heroes like Perseus were praised for “slaying the monster”, when in reality he was killing a woman who had already suffered deeply.

• Her image was often used to represent female power gone “wild”—as something to be feared and controlled.

A Modern Feminist Reclamation

Today, many see Medusa differently:

• As a symbol of trauma and survival, a woman punished for male violence.

• As a representation of female rage that was once demonized but is now validated.

• As a protector rather than a villain, her image was even used on shields and doors in ancient times to ward off evil.

Medusa as Archetype

She embodies the “monstrous feminine” trope—how society often vilifies powerful or angry women, rather than understanding the roots of their pain.

In Conclusion

Medusa wasn’t evil. She was a survivor turned into a symbol of horror by a culture that feared women’s power. Her real tragedy isn’t that she was monstrous—but that her story was rewritten to make her one.

Survivor bias

Survivor bias (also known as survivorship bias) is a logical error that occurs when we focus only on the people or things that “survived” a process, ignoring those that didn’t, which can lead to false conclusions.

🔍 Classic Example:

During World War II, the military sought to armor airplanes based on the locations of bullet holes found on returning planes. But statistician Abraham Wald pointed out:

The military was only analyzing planes that came back. The ones that didn’t return likely got hit in areas not shown in the data—like the engines.

So he advised reinforcing the areas without bullet holes, not the ones with them.

💡 Why It Matters:

Survivor bias can:

• Skew data analysis

• Lead to overestimating success rates

• Make failures invisible

📌 Common Real-Life Examples:

1. Business Advice

You hear stories about college dropouts becoming billionaires (like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg), but forget the thousands who dropped out and didn’t succeed.

2. Fitness Influencers

You see amazing transformation stories, but not the many who trained hard and didn’t get the same results.

3. Investing

We praise the stocks that performed well, but ignore the ones that went bust and quietly vanished.

✅ Lesson:

To make smart decisions, don’t just study the winners.

Ask: Who didn’t make it? Why?

That’s where the real insight often lies. 

Read more about the different kinds of bias here