10
Jun
To decapitate = to castrate. The terror of Medusa is thus a terror of castration that is linked to the sight of something. Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy, who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration catches sight of the female genitals, probably those of an adult surrounded by hair, and essentially those of the mother.
Sigmund Freud, Medusa’s Head
