re: #421 buzzsawmonkey

The literature of which day—ours or theirs? The Salem trials in America, or witch hunts in Europe in the Middle Ages?

The topic is far too broad for generalization. There surely was an element of targeting people who “didn’t fit,” for whatever reason, when accusations of witchcraft were leveled. This would have included sexual elements, envy, fear, personal dislike, political or financial rivalry, etc., etc.—just as with accusations of heresy—as well as, quite possibly, actual belief in the matters of which people were accused.

I am merely saying that “oh, these were just reasons to target strong or sexual women” grafts modern-day feminist theories onto very different times, societies, and belief systems in a shallow and facile way.

Buzz, the dates for the witchcraft hysteria are, very roughly, 1450 (Alys Ketteling in Ireland is earlier) to 1780 - with an outlying case in 1790-something.

It is a renaissance phenomenon, Catholic and Protestant, with very, very few areas nearly immune, including, curiously, Spain. England was actually not that bad - a few high-profile trials, some low-level church court prosecutions, an unknown amount of popular persecution, and only one really bad era, under Cromwell.

That was a terribly misogynistic time - particularly between about 1530 and 1650.

It’s a good idea to break all this out.