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

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.

This is a feminist text that argues the witch burnings of Europe and the US were primarily about keeping women subservient and maintaining the patriarchy. The author then draws a direct line from the barbarity of that era to the misogyny and sexism women still face in the modern era, including but not limited to: reproductive rights, unrealistic beauty standards, double-standards with regards to aging men vs women, societal pressure regarding marriage and motherhood, women being unknowingly used as science experiments while under anesthesia by medical school students, etc.

The theory about why the witch burnings occurred do make a lot of sense to me:

“Talking back to a neighbor, speaking loudly, having a strong character or showing a bit too much awareness of your own sexual appeal: being a nuisance of any kind would put you in danger. [...] every behavior and its opposite could be used against you: it was suspicious to miss Sunday Mass too frequently, but it was also suspicious never to miss it; it was suspicious to gather regularly with friends, but also to have too solitary a lifestyle.”
The witch-hunts were a reactionary response to women striving for equality in a highly puritanical and patriarchal society. They were not just crazy Christians going nuts. Though they were definitely that too.

She argues that as modern medicine began taking shape, its pioneers (white men) used the specter of witchcraft to push out the healers, medicine women, and midwives to be replaced by an arguably barbaric early form of obstetrics and other highly dogmatic medical fields, all if which ignored centuries of evidence-based practice from said healers & “witches” to instead use old classics like leaches: “Despite their parallel activity as sorceresses, about which we may be skeptical, and much more than the era's official doctors, the female healers targeted by the witch-hunts were already working within the parameters of the rational; indeed, they are characterized by Ehrenreich and English as ‘safer and more effective' than the ‘regular' doctors. These doctors had studied Plato, Aristotle and theology; prominent among their repertoire were bloodletting and the application of leeches.”

It's written from a first-world perspective and makes zero mention of trans people.
Other than that, I thought it was pretty good and an excellent choice this spooky season.

4.5. This book takes its reader on a journey of reckoning with the violent past of the witch hunts and how it still shapes the persecution of women who dare to step out of line.

Chollet explores the expectation of women to marry, birth children, never to age, and to limit their knowledge and control of their bodies. Moreover, it discusses how society treats those who choose to follow a different path, how politics and religion continue to be forces to oppress and regulate women's lives and bodies.

I would say it provides an introduction to all of these topics, but it's by no means a comprehensive deep dive. However, I think this is a good thing, as it makes the text more accessible. It's intersectional as far as race and sexuality, but it's ultimately a Western exploration of these topics, with a heavy emphasis on European and American experiences.

I highly recommend it if you're at all interested in these topics.

“Turning the world upside down is no small undertaking. But there can be great joy -the joy of audacity, of insolence, of a vital affirmation, of defying faceless authority- in allowing our ideas and imaginations to follow the paths down which these witches' whisperings entice us.”

In defense of witches by Mona Chollet

This book is a rather clever account of the kind of women who were hunted and killed during the infamous witch trials. Women with opinions not of her husbands. Women with natural abilities and intelligence were seen as a threat to man.

This book shows that it still happens in today's world just that we don't label it witchcraft anymore. Excellent book 4.5 stars.

Nothing like getting ready for spooky season by reading a book about our culture/history of hating “witches” as there is nothing more horrifying than the atrocities committed against women. I thought this would be a bit superficial, but was very intersectional and spoke of issues women still face today. Age, sexuality, motherhood, all the good stuff. This was excellent. 4.5 stars.