” You can dent the soul and bend it. You can hurt it and scar it. You can leave the marks of illness upon it, and the scorch marks of fear. But it does not die ”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Leda and the Swan, somehow always depicted as a joyful moment, is a rape. So this is a painting depicting a rape, the first ‘true’ Leda and the Swan in figurative art. Notice how both the frame and the painting are cut in half, the way a human soul is destructed through acts of violence.
One in eight girls worldwide has experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18 (UNICEF Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring, October 2024). Rape is often about dominance and power. Dominance can be expressed through dehumanization – rape – an assault cutting through the soul.
One in ten students get raped in the few years they spend studying and almost 20% of all women get raped at least once during their lifetime (Amnesty International, 2021).
In the mythological story, the god Zeus wants to have sex with Leda, a Spartan Queen, but she does not. He therefore turns himself into a swan. To convince her of his innocence, he goes even further and pretends to be a victim himself. He circles in the air above Leda, simulating being hunted by an eagle.
This cycle of manipulative psychological deceit is much more common prior to sexual abuse than physical persuasion.
This results in less possibility to defend oneself physically. Even if a rape is based on physical force, the reaction to freeze instead of fight is a lot more common. This is a subconscious reaction of your body instinct that you cannot choose yourself. It means your body thinks your highest chance to survive is to do nothing. It helps you to stay alive but also leaves you with a feeling of guilt because you did not do anything.
This is where the so-called second rape comes in: people accuse you of letting sexual abuse happen to you, leaving the victim even more traumatized and not daring to talk about the events anymore.
In this painting the swan has a stoic look on his face, unaware of the violent act he is committing. He deprives Leda of a way to get away and locks her in a suffocating position. Zeus rapes Leda, an act that overturns the soul of another human being.
Why has this story been painted for centuries as if Leda enjoyed this moment? Why is there not one artwork featuring the violence happening here?
This painting takes a lonely stance: unveiling this mythological narrative making visible the violent act of rape.
A painting of the true story.