In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

by Mona Chollet

Other authorsCarmen Maria Machado (Introduction), Sophie R. Lewis (Translator)

Hardcover, 2022

Genres

General Nonfiction

History

Nonfiction

Religion & Spirituality

All Topics

Description

"Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a "brilliant, well-documented" celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution. Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed? Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society's seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct heirs to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions. With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms"--… (more)

Publication

St. Martin's Press (2022), 320 pages

Media reviews

NPR

In Defense of Witches takes witches — unmarried, childless, strong, independent women in control of their future, their time, and their sexuality — and uses those elements to explore how women who possessed those attributes, or who simply failed to comply with what men wanted of them, were

accused of witchcraft and persecuted. Then the book focuses on how modern women who are independent, childless, and elderly must still deal with some of the same pressures as the witches of old did.

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New York Times

Chollet celebrates not only the witches of the past, but also the so-called “witches” of today: independent women who have chosen not to have children, aren’t always coupled, often defy traditional beauty norms (letting their hair go gray), and thus operate outside the established social

order....“In Defense of Witches” explores how women who assert their powers are too often seen as a threat to men and society, how those who don’t bear children are too often seen as a disturbing anomaly and how women at middle age too often disappear....Chollet’s work has broken ground and provided important pushback. “In Defense of Witches” demonstrates that a woman’s decision to go against the grain — especially by not having children — inevitably becomes a political act, even an act of resistance.

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Publisher's Weekly

In this spirited yet uneven polemic, journalist Chollet traces misogynistic attitudes in Western society back to witch hunts that occurred in Europe and the U.S. from the 1300s to the 1700s. These periodic public tortures and executions of women “induced all women to be discreet, docile, and

submissive,” according to Chollet, and drove them into an acceptance of the “gendered division of labor required by capitalism.” ... Though her iconoclastic wit shines, Chollet’s provocations ultimately come across as more defensive than revolutionary. This call for change feels like old news.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member pomo58

In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet is a very well-researched yet very accessible look at how the witch hunts and the popular perceptions of witches has persisted to this day in different form but with the same intent.

While some would like a Readers Digest version of the book and have it stop

after the introduction, it is in the details where the commonalities between witch hunts and current patriarchal restraints, both subtle and blatant, become evident. Just saying it is so does little to convince anyone, but showing instance after instance, interspersed with feminist theory, pulls the rug out from under any doubters.

It is often in the more low-key elements of culture that seeds are planted that grow into the timber that supports the patriarchy, so Chollet offers many instances from popular culture to highlight just how society tries to "keep women in line." If you've read or watched some of the texts discussed, you'll probably want to revisit them. Not only to see what you may have overlooked but to also better understand how to actively engage with other texts in the future.

I was personally most interested in the ways that the witch hunts we widely think of as a thing of the past have simply morphed into more subtle, and in some ways more sinister, forms of control and punishment. Looking at the information as laid out for the reader, I have a much better understanding and appreciation for the various ways women can and do re-appropriate not only words but indeed their own sexuality and make them work to their benefit and happiness rather than as means of controlling them.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

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LibraryThing member Iudita

This is a collection of feminist essays with some very interesting and engaging themes. Sometimes the author took her ideas and arguments a little farther then I wanted to go but she gave me food for thought. Overall I really enjoyed reading this and I think it broadened my views on feminism.

LibraryThing member spinsterrevival

There’s so much going on here, and I loved how the author covered it all. She uses the history of women accused and murdered for being witches and then breaks down the perceptions and expectations into four main chapters which cover single women, childless women, old women, and how women are used

in nature/science/medicine (I’m still deconstructing that last one). I really should try to get back into some of the French I learned in college as many of the resources cited are in the author’s native French, but I appreciated all her references and hope to learn more from them.

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