Witches Then and Willful Women Today

From our first class, I noticed a couple of themes that tend to arise in my Women and Gender Studies classes. Specifically, 1) women punished for acting willfully, 2) othering, and 3) safety for people in power. 

Most of us concurred that many of the “testimonies” made in the Martha Carrier trial were likely founded on past grievances having nothing to do with witchcraft. For instance, neighbors who quarreled with Martha over land matters later accused her of using magic to cause their harm. While it may be true that Martha said considerably inappropriate things to these men, things that a lady certainly shouldn’t say, I find it much more likely that, instead of Matha actually cursing them, the men simply did not appreciate a woman acting out against them and decided to control her when the opportunity presented itself. 

Control of women presents one reason to accuse someone of witchcraft, but others accused in order to vindicate themselves. By accusing someone, a person hoped to say they are, I am not. This othering acted as a shield, giving power to the accuser and stripping it from the accused. In WGST, we learn that othering leads to the distinction of minority groups; by differentiating, dominant groups effectively say they are, we are not. In both settings in time, there’s a bit of dehumanization that accompanies such a belief, and those deemed less than the dominant we (those deemed less than human) do not get the same privileges or power. And, who is considered “other” is determined by the dominant group. We still see this happening for women, as well as queer folks, people of color, and various other minority groups. 

The third theme I noticed, safety for people in power, is one we talked about less but that I think comes with othering (or scapegoating, as was said in class discussion). Those in power, or those that are not “other,” remain the safest. In the case of those that accused women of witchcraft, their othering ensured their safety. Others in positions of power, such as men that served as doctors, religious leaders, and judges, also lived in positions of safety. In reality, those in the most perilous position already existed on the fringes of society - slaves and (willful) women in particular. Women still face danger at a higher rate than men (sex trafficking, domestic violence), people of color face danger at a higher rate than white people (police brutality), and groups of “others” consistently more violence. 

As a final note, I love the phrase “We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn.” I think it depicts my point here - that the themes present during the Salem witch trials appear today. Women still must struggle against them. However, as this line points out, the “willful women” were not wiped out with the witch trials, and we will continue to fight for justice today.