Trigger Warning: This article contains reference to sexual assault which some may find triggering to read about.
Every Halloween, Medusa slithers back into our feeds. Once a tragic figure of Greek mythology, the snake-haired siren who turns mortals to stone has become a Halloween staple. And, each year, Pinterest floods with green glitter, gold and snakes in the hair.
Once again, it is all about: Medusa, the seductress. Medusa, the gorgon. Medusa, who it’s impossible to look away from.
But beneath the glitz lies a story that is anything but glamorous.
The myth Beneath the makeup
Medusa wasn’t born a monster. She was born a mortal. She was known to be a beautiful priestess devoted to Athena. And, it was in the very temple of Athena that she was raped by Poseidon. For that, Athena punished Medusa, not Poseidon. She robbed her of her beauty and transformed her into a snake-headed gorgon, cursing her with a gaze that turned men to stone.
In other words, Medusa was wronged by a God, and silenced by a goddess as an unfair warning to all women. Medusa wasn’t born a monster, she was made into one. Yet over time, her story was rewritten to make her a villain instead of a survivor, condemned by those meant to protect her.
From survivor to sex symbol
Fast forward 2,800 years, and Medusa has undergone yet another makeover: this time courtesy of pop culture. She’s been stripped of her pain and rebranded as the ultimate sultry Halloween look.
Search ‘Medusa costume’ online and you’ll be met with corsets, gold waist chains and body glitter. The myth has been rewritten to fit a modern paradox: women are told to be powerful, but not too angry; bold, but still beautiful; intimidating, but only in a way that pleases, not threatens. And yes, it’s great that women can now freely express themselves: that Medusa can be worn as a symbol of confidence and control. But given the weight of her story, it’s a fine line between reclaiming and rewriting. What was once a story of survival has become a spectacle, one that risks losing who she really was.
Heidi Klum Tried to Flip the Script. But, did she?
This year, Halloween icon Heidi Klum stepped out as Medusa, complete with green-scaled skin, a reptilian tail, and a full snake crown. Unlike the usual over-sexualised takes, Klum’s version wasn’t meant to cater to the male gaze. Instead, it was monstrous. Her version leaned into the grotesque, closer to how Medusa was first imagined.
But in doing so, she raised another uncomfortable question: why is it that women can only exist as extremes, either hypersexualized or horrifying?
Klum’s Medusa was breathtaking in craftsmanship, but it also reinforced a centuries-old narrative: when a woman refuses to be desirable, she must be a monster. Medusa has always been trapped in this dichotomy. First, punished for being too beautiful, then punished again for being terrifying.
The monster was the mirror
Medusa was never the villain. Maybe that’s why she still haunts us. She’s not a monster. She’s a mirror society avoids, afraid to see its own cruelty staring back. Her gaze turned men to stone not out of malice, but as a defense. She embodied what happens when a woman’s trauma is misunderstood, sensationalised, and finally commodified.
So as Halloween comes and goes, maybe it’s time to look beyond the costume. To stop turning Medusa into something to ogle, or to fear. To start seeing her as what she’s always been: a survivor.
Because the true horror in her story isn’t the snakes. It’s how we keep finding new ways to punish a woman for her own pain.