Book Review: In Defense of Witches

[rocky41_7]

Book #4 of the "Women in Translation" library rec list has been In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet, translated from French by Sophie R. Lewis.

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.

 

There's no doubt that Chollet has done her research here. I appreciated how often her claims and arguments were supported with quotes, events, other studies, and even the occasional fictional novel giving a display of attitudes of the times (although I do think we could have used fewer fictional examples).

 

However, as other readers have remarked...the book doesn't really have much to do with witches. I was most engaged at the start, when Chollet was digging into the witch trials of 15^th and 16^th century Europe, giving details on the events and attitudes as well as sharing the stories of some individual women. She validly criticizes how no other mass killings in history so broadly get the "haha well that happened" treatment.

 

She also traces quite effectively how the attitudes developed during the witch hunts persisted long after. The disgust with the female body (witches were often accused of copulating with the devil, and frequently shaved head to toe before their trials to find the "devil's mark"), the policing of women's behavior (being too gregarious could be a sign of being a witch—but so could being too withdrawn and isolated), the mistrust and revulsion around old women (whose accumulated knowledge and low tolerance for mistreatment made them particular targets during the hunts). 

 

But after the first chapter (the book is divided into four chunky chapters), witches mostly fade into the background and the book becomes a generalized critique of misogyny, mainly in French and American society. I would have liked to see her draw more on the legacy of the witch trials to at least parallel with some more modern instances of misogyny, such as the lingering mistrust of career women, especially those without children.

 

The witch, at her core, represents things society still struggles to accept in women: she is usually single (and therefore not affiliated with or under the dominion of a man), often educated (many accused witches were practicing midwives or healers), generally childless (potentially rejecting the "natural calling" of all women to motherhood), frequently post-menopausal (and therefore undesirable--an unforgivable crime in a woman) and in short: independent. The witch is not beholden to anyone—father, husband, church, or child (thus, medieval witch hunters had to place her under the ultimate control of the devil, a male figure)--and acts solely in her own interests and in pursuit of her own pleasure, which made her intolerable, and in many ways, women are still viewed this way.

 

Chollet makes a lot of good points about historical and lingering misogyny, but I do feel she belabors the point in some cases, and by the fourth chapter feels like she's lost the thread entirely on the original thesis, becoming more of a diatribe against the medical field and the "cult of rationalism" than an examination of "women on trial" or the legacy of the witch hunts.

 

However, on the whole, the book was still interesting. It's not a fun read, to be clear: being reminded of the many ways in which women have been hated for merely existing and are still looked down on today is not enjoyable--but it is important to remember these things, not only to see what progress we have made, but to understand what progress is still needed.