@Sep10trion Gorgons are supposed to be otherworldly beautiful. They were cursed to be "monster" precisely because they're way too pretty, even more than the goddess of love herself. And Aphrodite is known for being a jealousy bitch, so.
@mister_nobody
That was one take on the gorgon origin. Another was that they were vestal virgins who were raped in the temple they were serving. For some batshit crazy reason, they were punished instead.
Lots of deities had a berserk button you didn’t want to press. Aphrodite’s was definitely her looks. Athena’s was ridiculing her father Zeus (i.e. Arachne). And so on...
@Sep10trion
Yet another take was that they were never human, but were born from a couple of minor deities and were always monstrous, just like their many siblings.
Art-wise, Gorgons tended to be hideous up until the classical Greek period, but it became more and more popular to make Medusa hawt after that.
@mister_nobody I read that there was only medusa, who was turned to a hideous gorgon by her goddess for having an illicit relationship with poseidon in her temple