In Defense of Witches

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.

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.

I just finished [b:Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men 41104077 Invisible Women Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Caroline Criado Pérez https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617113740l/41104077.SY75.jpg 64218580] recently and i'm still heated. This just continued to fuel my fire. I connected with this book rather well, especially in regards to being child free. It also mentioned about abortion rights being at risk- published then shortly after our abortion rights (roe v wade) were destroyed. Hits hard still. For folks with Tokophobia there is discussions on birth in more detail near the end of the book, pretty skippable!

Note to self: listened to on audio; want to purchase a physical copy.