*Trigger warning* The Penelopiad, by Marget Atwood, presents a constant battle of hardship and heartbreak of life for women in ancient Greece. These difficulties stem from both psychological and social pressures that women face in Atwood’s story The Penelopiad. Atwood’s retelling of the Odyssey allows Penelopiad, the wife of Odysseus, the opportunity to share her story and struggles of a young woman married for thousands of years. Women in Atwood's story, The Penelopiad, are raped, which was unfortunately common during the time era. In fact, in greek mythology, rape not only occured, but was almost justified. I believe this justification and commonality of occurrence largely factors into the physiological pressures of women in the Greek world during that time era. The emotional response to rape often lasts a long time and includes, but is not limited to, depression, flashback, and PTSD. Many survivors of sexual assault tend to struggle with feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment and often have a decreased level of trust in others that are outside of their typical support system. Symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression after rape can last for months or even years. Not only can sexual violence have an effect on ones physiological state, but it can heave an effect on their emotional and physical behavior and well-being as well. Although we have a long way to go in how we treat rape culture today, have come a long way from the way that it was treated during the time period of Greek Mythology. Really, during that time period, rape was so common that it was not a second thought when it happened, which means that victims did not receive proper help after the occurrence of these instances. I believe that this greatly contributed to lasting psychological effects for the characters throughout Atwood’s story, contributing to the social pressures that women faced to act as if they were fine after these instances occurred. Luckily in todays society there is much more of a prominence of resources for rape victims. A lot of these resources are oftentimes found on college campuses, such as therapy and rape kits, or may be found through psychotherapy, counseling, or even through calling the national Sexual Assault Hotline, all of which can help in ones healing process. Though rape has been termed as more of a deviant act in our society nowadays, there unfortunately is still a stigma surrounding rape. In fact, sadly, 63% of sexual assault incidents are not reported to police. I can only imagine how high this percentage must have been during the times in which The Penelopiad took place, leading to psychological and social pressures for many women. Resources for sexual assault survivors: National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 https://ct.counseling.org/2016/08/counseling-survivors-sexual-assault/# https://www.sacenter.org/heal/types-of-therapy-and-treatment.aspx References: https://www.rainn.org/effects-sexual-violence https://feminisminindia.com/2017/10/06/origins-rape-culture-mythology/ https://psmag.com/social-justice/lifelong-consequences-rape-96056 https://ct.counseling.org/2016/08/counseling-survivors-sexual-assault/# https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7239557/
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AuthorHi! My name is Alyssa and I am a fourth year Psychology major! When I'm not busy with work and school I enjoy cooking new recipes, and binging Schitt's Creek on Netflix. Archives |