Medusa was taken advantage of by Poseidon

The argument

The main reason why Athena punished Medusa is the accusation that she performed a sexual act within the goddess' temple. As a virgin goddess, Athena would have perceived this as an act of desecration, which would explain why she was so angry with Medusa. The punishment therefore rests on a judgement about what Medusa did — and that judgement is exactly what the victim reading disputes. However, Medusa did not engage in said sexual act willingly. Poseidon raped Medusa, arguably making Medusa the victim of the very event for which she was condemned. The distinction is not a technicality: an act done to someone is not an act that they performed, so the ground on which Athena's anger rests does not apply to Medusa at all. Despite what Poseidon did to Medusa, Athena held Medusa accountable for what happened in her temple. One can make the case that Medusa is the victim here because instead of being protected by her patron goddess, she was punished by Athena for being raped in her temple — punished by the one figure who owed her protection, while the god who committed the act went untouched. To further build on Medusa's victimization, after Poseidon raped her, she sought Athena for guidance. That behaviour is difficult to reconcile with any other account of what happened. If Medusa's encounter with Poseidon were consensual, she would not be asking Athena for her guidance, since a willing participant in a desecration has every reason to avoid the offended goddess and none at all to approach her. Arguably, this course of action attests to the trauma she encountered and her status as a victim in this situation.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Despite Medusa's portrayal as a victim of rape, this portrayal is not universal. Another version of the Medusa myth told by the Greek poet Hesiod tells a different story. In Hesiod's rendition, Medusa and Poseidon share a more consensual relationship where both parties are found together in a more comfortable setting. Hesiod's choice of setting paints a different picture, specifically, one that does not allude to rape. The poet's choice of words betrays that narrative when he describes the beauty of the scene. In light of this portrayal, one can argue that Medusa's relationship with Poseidon was consensual.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The account of Athena's motive is one reconstruction of a myth that survives in several versions, and it is presented here as the settled reason. [Rejecting P2] The version in which the encounter is an assault comes chiefly from Ovid, writing centuries after the earliest sources. As the counter-argument notes, Hesiod's older account describes the meeting quite differently, so the premise selects one telling and treats it as the fact of the matter. [Rejecting P3] Seeking the goddess afterwards is compatible with several readings and is drawn from the same later tradition. Reasoning from a character's actions to their inner state is interpretation of a text, not evidence about an event.