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

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 descendants 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 live their lives on their own terms.

ISBN-13: 9781250894878

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Publication Date: 10-03-2023

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 8.10(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.90(d)

Mona Chollet is a Franco-Swiss writer and journalist. In Defense of Witches is her first book to be translated into English. She lives in Paris, France.

Table of Contents

Foreword Carmen Maria Machado ix

Introduction 1

1 A Life of One's Own 40

2 Wanting Sterility 89

3 The Dizzy Heights 141

4 Turning the World Upside Down 194

Acknowledgments 255

Notes 257

Index 297

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