Parallels aplenty between ‘witches,’ modern women

When most of us hear the words “witch hunt,” we think of the Salem

witch trials. But that hunt was merely the tip of the iceberg. Salem

was an extension of the massive hunts that occurred in 16th- and

17th-century Europe. There, as elsewhere, the victims were

predominantly female: 80% of those accused, and 85% of those killed,

were women.

Statistical evidence estimates that about 200,000 were accused,

and 100,000 died. And though some claim even greater numbers were

accused and killed, most agree that this was an organized mass murder

driven by politics, religion and gender oppression.

In the 13th century, Inquisition courts were developed to do away

with heretical groups. European repression had been focused against

heretics and Jews. But as these two groups were either restrained or

expelled, the inquisitors looked for their next scapegoat -- and that

was witches.

At that time, the judicial process had also changed. Where it had

once been the responsibility of the accuser to prove their claims,

the court took on the onus of proving the charges. Now anyone could

freely make accusations. Second, the Inquisition introduced torture,

and used it to coerce confessions and elicit names of “accomplices.”

In 1486, two Dominican inquisitors wrote Malleus Maleficarum

(“Hammer Against Witches”), a document that became the witch-hunter’s

bible. Before its existence, men and women had been accused of

witchcraft pretty equally. This document changed that. It said most

witches were women and defined witchcraft as female rebellion. It

said “all witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women

insatiable.”

To break it down, the persecution of witches came to be based upon

the following beliefs: 1) God-given inferiority of women; 2)

biblically, women were evil and could lead good men astray; 3) women

were sexually insatiable; mortal men couldn’t satisfy them, so they

were susceptible to seduction by the devil. So men’s salvation lay in

reining in the power that women held over them.

Men were the sole authority figures in witch trials. Perhaps not

so ironically, many of them used their positions of power to employ

highly sexual and sadistic methods of examination, torture and

killing.

For example, examinations of the accused were highly invasive. The

accused would be stripped while the “pricker” would examine her for

the “witches’ teat.” It was believed that the teat was the site where

the devil or an animal familiar (a spirit in animal form) would

suckle from the woman. Any skin abnormality would be construed as the

teat; even a hemorrhoid or a tear from childbirth would qualify.

Torture techniques included rape, hot wax poured into body

orifices, skin peeled with hot pincers, and public whippings of women

stripped to the waist. It wasn’t rare for women to have their breasts

cut off while still alive. And there was always burning at the stake.

So, just who was accused of being a witch? Generally society’s

most vulnerable. Most were either ugly, old, single, poor, outcasts

or outspoken.

Ugliness was viewed as evil, and old women were viewed as ugly.

Old women also were often more outspoken (in fact, the majority of

those accused were over 50 years of age). Because religion dictated

sex for procreation only, post-menopausal women were especially

vulnerable to accusations.

Single women didn’t have men in their lives to sexually satisfy

them, and therefore were supposedly more vulnerable to seduction by

the devil.

Women who were quarrelsome or whose actions were viewed as lewd

and immoral were suspect. And at the time, it was actually illegal

for a woman to “scold,” so women who were too uppity could be

accused.

Women who were poor were a burden to society and created

discomfort when encountered by those more prosperous. Poverty was on

the increase, so getting rid of these people was a convenient way of

alleviating society’s guilt.

Also accused were women with power, such as midwives. It was

thought that if they had the power to heal, they had the power to

harm.

Though eventually the witch hunts died down in Europe, the

persecution of witches is a tool that has not died. In the past

decade, we’ve seen witch hunts again, this time in parts of Africa.

In Tanzania, there were 357 deaths from 1998 to 1999. Also in 1998,

10 women were murdered in Johannesburg, South Africa, as witches.

Some of the same expectations of gender-proscribed roles that

applied to 16th- and 17th-century European women apply to American

women today. In general, the onus for controlling one’s sexuality

falls squarely on the shoulders of females, and reproductive

responsibility is the woman’s role. After all, “boys will be boys,”

and therefore can’t be held to the same self-discipline standards as

females. Many still believe that women have the power to seduce and

corrupt good men. Still prevalent is the idea that if women step

outside of their roles they deserve what they get and should live

with the consequences, be it pregnancy or rape.

TRICIA ROTH

Glendale