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

by Mona Chollet, Sophie R. Lewis (Translator), Carmen Maria Machado (Introduction)

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 harassed 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, History, Witches, Audiobook, Womens, France

8 pages, Audiobook

First published September 13, 2018

About the author

Mona Chollet is a Franco-Swiss writer and journalist. She is the chief editor for Le Monde diplomatique and has also written for Charlie Hebdo. She lives in Paris, France.
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Après une licence en lettres à Genève, elle étudie le journalisme à l’École supérieure de journalisme de Lille.

Elle est ensuite pigiste pour Charlie Hebdo. Mais son contrat est interrompu en 2000 après sa contestation d'un éditorial du directeur de la rédaction Philippe Val, qui qualifiait les Palestiniens de « non-civilisés ». Elle raconte : « Quelques jours après, il m’a convoquée, et il m’a annoncé qu’il arrêtait mon CDI après le mois d’essai, alors que j’étais pigiste depuis un an. Ça m’a sidérée »1.

Désormais journaliste et chef d'édition au Monde diplomatique2, elle anime également le site de critique culturelle Périphéries3, en partenariat avec Thomas Lemahieu.

Elle anime également pour 19 épisodes une chronique sur Arte radio, L'esprit d'escalier (2004-2005), qui aborde des sujets de société, notamment (mais pas uniquement) sur le féminisme et les médias.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don’t hear from me, I have joined a coven and am living my best life. In the meantime, Mona Chollet has organized a book that discusses the legacy of witch hunts (specifically in France, UK and the US) and how the social issues of patriarchy that were a large undercurrent in the history of these horrors are still present in the world today. In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial is an excellent blend of past and present analysis on repression and persecution that always ties back to the idea of witches and witch hunts. Chollet is sharp and insightful, eloquently elaborating her ideas in accessible and robust arguments (wonderfully translated from the French by Sophie R. Lewis), clustered into several main ideas for which women are often judged, such as rejecting motherhood or married life and other aspects of sexual agency, homosexuality, or aging. ‘The witch-hunts speak to us of our own time,’ Chollet writes, and this is a fascinating book that explores concepts of feminism and patriarchial policing as a call to action for a more equitable society and against violence directed at women.

‘Every possible decision modern women make or role they occupy, outside of the most rigorous and regressive, can be tied back to the very symptoms of witchcraft: refusal of motherhood, rejection of marriage, ignoring traditional beauty standards, bodily and sexual autonomy, homosexuality, aging, anger, even a general sense of self-determination.’
- Carmen Maria Machado, from the forward

This book is less a historical critique on witch-hunts and more essays on feminism that use the legacy of witch-hunts as its center of gravity. While it occasionally seems to drift away from the theme for big chunks, Chollet always ties it back together in an effective way that keeps focus instead of merely using witches as a draw to pull readers in. I’m reminded a bit of the book Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths by Helen Morales, which kept a tighter adherence to the theme but also much looser connections that sometimes felt gimmicky, a feeling which Chollet successfully avoids. This actually paired well with my reading of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, feeling in many ways an update on that but told through the lens of witch-hunts, as well as feeling like a good companion piece to Kate Manne’s essay collection Entitled, which has a lot of cross-over topics, particularly on reproductive rights.

‘It is difficult not to conclude that the witch-hunts amounted to a war against women.’

Chollet comes out of the gate swinging with her introduction that delves into historical witch-hunts. Offering informative statistics and a general overview on how they came about, fun details like Pope Gregory IX declaring cats the "devil's servants" and executing so many cats along with witches that the rat population grew and spread disease (subsequently blamed on witches), and examining issues such as criminalization of contraception and abortions occurring during the same period as witch-hunts. ‘Witch-hunters are revealed as both obsessed with and terrified by female sexuality,’ she observes in her discussion of historical documents such as The Malleus Maleficarum. ‘When for ‘witches’ we read ‘women,’ we gain fuller comprehension of the cruelties inflicted by the church upon this portion of humanity,’ said women’s activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and while Chollet examines how men, too, were accused and murdered (though in far fewer numbers with significantly higher acquittals and tended to be accused to their intimacy with accused witches), she explains how Gage’s statement is in line with the book to come. Chollet’s introduction also serves as a criticism of the already well-trodden path of witch-hunt history books, pointing out how even those that attempt sensitivity tend to do a fair amount of victim blaming, often even asking why the groups accused of witchcraft ‘attracted to itself the scapegoating mechanism,’ while also scapegoating any reason except for misogyny and control as to why these hunts occurred.

‘For me, the history of witchcraft could equally be called the history of independence…the most troubled territories are always those that want to be independent.’
- Pacôme Thiellement

Chollet ties in an extraordinary wealth of references in this book, citing many novels and films as well as frequent references to feminist figures. She also provides interesting commentary on how feminist groups often adopted the symbol of the witch for their movements (most notably the group Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, or W.I.T.C.H.). Witchcraft and magic are very in vogue now and often absorbed into many self-improvement concepts of empowerment, though, as she observes, ‘capitalism is always engaged in selling back to us in product form all that it has first destroyed.’ In her forward, Machado writes:

‘what could have once gotten a woman killed is now available for purchase at Urban Outfitters (within limits, of course. You can sell her crystals but refuse to pay her fair wages).’

This is another example of how ideas that are used subversively inevitably become products sold back to us to enrich the very systems they were fighting against (You can buy t-shirts with anti-capitalist slogans, for example, from large corporate retailers for $25). Mark Fisher's concept of Capitalist Realism (in his book of the same name) discusses how modern media often provides sanitized versions of subversive ideas to be consumed in ways that will not actually be threatening to the systems the ideas wish to challange, so too have concepts of witchcraft often been co-opted into sanitized fun or consumable aesthetics in place of the actual cultural traditions of origination. Look at the "witchcraft" books at any major retailer and you'll see examples of this.

W.I.T.C.H. protest on Wallstreet, 1968

Especially as this book tends to mostly address white, cisgender issues, it is important to note how concepts like neo-paganism being used as cutesy aesthetics has some troubling aspects of appropriation and we shouldn’t whitewash the dynamic cultural histories of paganism and ideas on magic (like voodoo) or fall prey to distorting history. One of the women involved in a 1968 demonstration to “hex Wallstreet” later regretted that they used satanic imagery and sayings:

‘the members of the Old Religon never worshipped Satan. They were followers of a tripartite Goddess: it was the Christian church who invented Satan and then claimed that witches were Satanists. We had bitten the patriarchal bait on that one…’

Not allowing the fun of the imagery to distort history or appropriate other cultural traditions is something to keep in mind, especially since Chollet points out the large number of women of color who were persecuted and how much American witch-hunts were used to target the indigenous. This comes later with the topic of medicine and wellness. ‘The witch becomes the ‘antimother,’’ Chollet writes, ‘many of the accused were healers who played the role of midwife—but who also used to help women wishing to prevent or terminate a pregnancy.’ This was during a time women were denied access to medical school and Cholett discusses that part of their eradication was to silence anyone that wasn’t part of the academic cannon. As witchcraft ideas have started to be absorbed or co-opted into wellness communities or other natural health circles, the infiltration of white supremacy in the wellness industry is something that should also be kept in mind too, as well as trying to remember snake oil salesman use the same bad faith marketing as any other big industry so it can sometimes be difficult to parse out what is an effective alternative remedy and what is not.

‘Years of propaganda and terror sowed among men the seeds of a deep psychological alienation from women.’
-Sylvia Federici

Chollet breaks the book into chapters to address women’s independence, reproductive choices, aging, and a final chapter on general repression of women. The first deals with many similar concepts that de Beauvoir famously covered about how women are socialized to be submissive and accessory to the male-dominated society. She examines how any variation from the patriarchally prescribed notion of what a woman should be is met with backlash, something author:Kate Manne|16600238] describes in Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny as sexism being

‘the branch of patriarchal ideology that justifies and rationalizes a patriarchal social order, and misogyny as the system that polices and enforces its governing norms and expectations.’

Chollet says that witch-hunts imposed patriarchal order by violence and the 19th century’s idea of the modern housewife became a new method of imposition that ‘locks women into their role as reproducers and disenfranchises them from participation in the world of work.’ I find it disingenuous that many of the opponents to reproductive rights in the US are similarly opposed to improvements in childcare, maternity leave or general healthcare, which does lead to disenfranchisement because ‘the rights to contraception and abortion [have been] co-opted to reinforce the norms of “good” mothering’. When women were slow to return to work after COVID regulations laxed (and were more affected than male counterparts) but childcare options were still limited and cost restrictive, the same sort of people were quick to decry them as lazy and proclaim nobody has a work ethic anymore. ‘There is something quite intriguing in the way that society forces independent women into miserable lives,’ Chollet writes, ‘the better to confound them thereafter: “Ah! See how unhappy you are!”’

This is also an aspect of homophobia, as queer or trans women do not fit into the patriarchial mold. For instance, for that for all the browbeating to become a mother for straight women, queer women are often denied access to adoption in many countries or by certain adoption agencies. I was thrilled to find Chollet quoted Jeanette Winterson, an absolute favorite, on how being queer and not tied down by children or traditional marriage was freedom that helped her career. In the book Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult, the authors point out that witchcraft is often used in media as a queer metaphor. The show Bewitched for example, about which actress Elizabeth Montgomery says she was proud of the queer undertones, admitting it was present and alway 'about repression in general.' Montgomery would go on to be a prominent voice advocating for the queer community.

‘Women who create things other than children are still considered dangerous by many.’
- Pam Grossman

Being childless is also something that women become ‘othered’ for choosing. ‘Regret is used as a threat to push women who do not wish to be mother into motherhood even when abortion is not an issue,’ says feminst activist and sociologist Orna Donarth. Chollet looks at the life of Gloria Steinem who was frequently criticized for not wanting children, or Simone de Beauvoir who wrote that ‘I never once dreamed of rediscovering myself in the child I might bear,’ in response to people telling her she is likely filled with regret. This ties into Chollet’s next chapter on aging and how much aging women are criticized has a lot more to do with fertility than age.

‘Men don’t age better than women, they’re just allowed to age.'

Chollet looks at how ‘men’s dominant positions in [society] allows them to be absolute subjects and to make women into absolute objects,’ and once a woman has passed a certain age she observes that society has deemed her less beautiful and therefore less valuable. She details many examples of how older women are associated with thoughts of declining virility and death (hence the “old hag” witch symbolism), but, Chollet asks ‘who thinks about death when they see Richard Gere or Harrison Ford?’ She says the only true difference with men is that ‘their decay is not counted against them’ as it is with women. Chollet looks at how the pay for women in film decreases with age while it stays steady for men, or how older men in the public eye tend to date younger and younger women as they age (this was a recent internet topic when Leonardo DeCaprio once again broke up with a girlfriend who had turned 25 [he is 48]). There is even a 2000 court case in Portugal she describes where an older woman who had significant damage to her sexual organs during a workplace accident had her compensation pay greatly reduced by the judge because ‘at this age, not only is sex no longer as important…but her interest in it will be diminished.’ It was overturned in 2017 by the European Court of Human Rights, but the message is that society sees older women as lacking sexual desirability as well as fertility and are, thereby, less valued.

'To cast a spell is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people's consciousness...'
- Alan Moore

There is an interesting thread through these chapters on how language is coded to reflect a ‘conquering state’. In the chapter on aging, for instance, she points out how a sexual older woman is termed a ‘cougar’, which has negative connotations, while men have the more positive term ‘silver fox’. There is a discussion as well how women’s sexual organs are named after the men in medical fields who ‘discovered’ how they worked, as well as how linking women to ideas of nature and the Earth became a way to encourage ideas of ownership over them, with witches being a 'symbol of the violence of nature...disorderly women, like chaotic nature, [that] needed to be control.' It even goes so far as to how professions and jobs can become connotated as more “women's work” and how feminized careers are often less financially compensated, respected, and frequently expected to take on labor—particularly emotional labor—beyond their job description (as someone working in libraries, a job she mentions as ‘feminized’, yep). As Rebecca Solnit wrote, ‘the revolt against brutality begins with a revolt against the language that hides that brutality,’ and Chollet looks at instances of language such ‘Ms’ becoming an accepted honorific, or even they/them pronouns gaining common usage, as a way to better identify oneself on their own terms. However, she also chronicles the excessive pushback that come in response, reminding us that when progress threatens patriarchal hierarchy even a little, the gears of misogyny and homophobia lock into attack. But this focus on language is also how she can use many films and books to elaborate her points, especially the ones that try to pacify or mock issues of women’s liberation.

'The Witch is arguably the only female archtupe that has power on its own terms. She is not defined by anyone else.'
- Pam Grossman

This is a wonderful book that does an excellent job of combining a look at witchcraft and witch-hunts with feminist and social theories in a really engaging way. I wish this book went more beyond the fairly white, cisgendered centered approach (she does a decent job pointing out how much indigenous and Black cultures are involved in the history though), though this is also Chollet’s world and experience so I’d like to read another similar book on different cultural histories of witchcraft from an author that would be a good authority on the subject. Accessible, full of fascinating facts and figures, In Defense of Witches is a great read and wonderful reference.

4.5/5

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ * · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think because this book was french that it would just be white feminism but it actually talked a lot about black people and our struggles as well! i really like the way this author writes and i hope that more of her books get translated soon either that or my ass is gonna have to learn french because i’m really interested in what else she has to say.

[Tine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book with the expectation that contemporary gender culture and misogyny would be analysed in their historicity and in the context of witch hunts. A contemporary continuation, so to speak, of Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch (according to some reviews, I was not the only one with that expectation). Although the book provides some relevant points, the historical connection happens poorly and very confusingly. Actually, the introduction already provides all the insight (and some good fun facts) and the remaining chapters are the author's rambling (personal) thoughts on feminism in general, with sparse, unsystematic references to witches and lots of references to popular culture (which are tediously repetitive - one sometimes gets the feeling that this is a book about Gloria Steinem).

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un énorme coup de cœur que cet essai magistral.
Je l'ai dévoré, parce qu'il a parlé à mon âme de bout en bout. En terminant ma lecture, je me suis sentie plus forte en tant que femme, et plus en paix avec l'idée de vieillir. J'avais déjà un peu hâte de vieillir, pensant à ces années de compagnonnage avec mon amoureux qui promettent d'être belles, et maintenant j'ai vraiment hâte, d'être sage et sorcière.
Il est sorti pile au bon moment, évidemment, dans une espèce de frénésie (mode ou tendance ?) autour des sorcières, c'est le texte le plus juste que j'ai lu sur le sujet. Celui qui m'a vraiment donné le courage de me revendiquer comme telle, même si je n'adhère pas forcément à l'ésotérisme ambiant, même si je ne suis pas célibataire, même si je n'ai pas envie de rester sans enfant. J'aime le féminisme de Mona Chollet, qui habite chaque phrase, car il embrasse toutes les femmes et leur donne à toutes la même puissance. J'ai déjà envie de le relire.
Et lire les destins tragiques et révoltants de ces milliers de femmes accusées de sorcellerie, eh bien figurez-vous que ça m'a donné encore plus de force. Je suis habitée d'une colère qui me donne envie de m'investir encore plus dans ma lutte féministe, qui me donne envie d'encore plus de sororité.
Dans un style toujours limpide qui rend facile la lecture de ses écrits, Mona Chollet a encore une fois livré un travail à la fois pointu et teinté d'intime. Bref, un régal. Lisez Mona Chollet !

[Appoline Piotrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not saying this is a bad book, or a bad essay. Not at all. My issue is that I felt it was more about feminism in general (with a dash of witches peppered from time to time) than an essay about witchcraft and feminism (in that aspect, if the entire book had been like the introduction, where the author was talking about modern witchcraft and its links to feminism, it would have been perfect). So it wasn't what I expected, and I felt a bit disappointed by it.

[Laurelas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un grand livre, que je relirai probablement un jour plus tranquillement (avec un crayon à la main pour souligner mes passages favoris plutôt que dans le métro) et qui est aussi éclairant que percutant et surtout résolument essentiel dans tout cheminement féministe.

Il n'y parle pas "que" de sorcières, mais il en fait le point de départ de réflexions toutes intéressantes et liées par la même oppression systémique contre les femmes.

Ça m'a donné envie de vieillir avec sérénité, d'avoir un jour peut être des enfants parce que je le veux vraiment, de changer le monde et de me révolter contre les injustices faites aux femmes. Et puis de lire tout plein d'autres livres (la bibliographie est riche et intéressante).

Je viens tout juste de le refermer, j'ai encore besoin de le digérer et de prendre du recul mais j'ai adoré, même si certains sujets un peu durs m'ont parfois rendue triste, ils m'ont en tout cas tous donné matière à réfléchir.

Lisez le, tout simplement.

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever been interested in the witch trials, persecution of women, the stereotypes of women in their own power or connected to nature...read this book. There is so much more to it than that, but to unravel all that is spoken in these pages is difficult. It is hard to read knowing that there has been so much unnecessary hate and violence. There are so many emotions and thoughts to process after reading it. Really makes you pause are rethink things. It is a much needed book in these times. I am very grateful to have read it. Highly recommend.

[Celestina1210 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une réflexion très intéressante sur la condition féminine depuis la nuit des temps.
Simone de Beauvoir disait on ne naît pas femme on le devient. Je rajouterai que notre société actuelle nous assomme de préceptes à suivre. Une fille se doit être douce gentille et effacée, elle doit être bien habillée mais pas trop sexy non plus sinon elle attire trop le regard masculin. Une femme doit être mince surtout à l’approche de l’été un femme doit être jeune les crèmes anti âges et tous les produits comestiques… elle doit avoir des enfants et l’image d’Épinal de la mère qui se sacrifie jour après jour pour son mari et ses enfants. J’ai envie de dire un grand FUCK à toutes ses injonctions fichez- nous la paix. Ça me tue littéralement quand je vois des jeunes filles en plein mois d’août avec des jeans parce que si elles portent des shorts ou des jupes elles se feront embêter par des hommes qui ressemblent plus à des hyènes. Ça me tue aussi d’entendre tu es une femme donc tu devrais te dépêcher d’avoir des enfants… Et si j’en veux pas qu’est-ce que ça peut vous faire. J’en ai marre aussi de voir Brigitte Macron en TT sur Twitter ou X comme vous préférez parce que c’est peut être un homme si vous êtes contre la politique de son mari trouvez des arguments concernant ses actions et dieu seul sait qu’on peut en trouver facilement… Bref ce deux poids deux mesures me rend malade.
Je recommande ce livre à tout le monde pour au moins ouvrir le débat sur les droits des femmes

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this for sometime and finally got around to it. A well narrated audiobook with some good facts and discussion worthy topics. Not a perfect book of this kind but well worth a read

[Lizzie (TwoFaceLizzie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lecture indispensable, et j'insiste sur le fait qu'elle est très accessible, le fait que j'ai mis quatre mois à la terminer n'est pas un indicateur de difficulté de lecture.

Mona Chollet ouvre des discussions sur plusieurs thèmes :
- l'indépendance des femmes, et comment notre refus de se sacrifier attire immédiatement des réprobations
- le désir de ne pas avoir d'enfant, en réfutant ces idées qui disent que la femme a un désir inconscient d'enfanter et les différences de traitements hommes/femmes sur ce sujet

Un homme qui ne devient pas père déroge à une fonction sociale, tandis qu'une femme est censée jouer dans la maternité la réalisation de son identité profonde.

*emoji vomi*

- la vieillesse, et comment la société essaye de nous faire croire qu'à 45 ans notre vie est "terminée" puisque nous devenons des sorcières (yass) (plus d'enfants, perte de la beauté de notre jeunesse, apparence négligée, etc)
- le rapport de domination qu'il y a encore sur les femmes, avec de belles analogies avec la Terre, et en abordant des sujets comme les violences médicales et des exemples qui retournent l'estomac

Chaque idée est extrêmement intéressante. J'ai trouvé un seul défaut au livre (pas des moindres) : il est très cis-blanc-hétéro centré. Malgré quelques citations de féministes afro-américaines, on parle surtout de femmes blanches, blondes et brunes, et il y avait des occasions d'étoffer certains sujets. À compléter donc avec d'autres essais d'autres autrices. :)

[kimera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie w każdym z poruszonych tematów mogłybyśmy się zgodzić, ale za to przy zdecydowanej większości przybijałybyśmy sobie z wielkim hukiem żółwiki. Oh, Mona, tak dobrze ten wyrzyg mizoginistycznej codzienności ujęłaś. Brakowało mi takiego głosu. Wkurzonego w pytę.

[milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce livre est une très bonne porte d'entrée vers le féminisme, et je suis ravi du succès qu'il a eut. Je le recommande vraiment pour celleux qui veulent se lancer dans quelque chose d'accessible, actuel, rapide et agréable à lire sur le sujet. À travers les questions de l'indépendance, le refus de la maternité, l'acceptation de la vieillesse et la critique du corps médical, l'autrice propose une sorte de manifeste féministe destiné à redonner sa confiance aux femmes.
J'en profite pour signaler que la version numérique est diffusée gratuitement sur le site de l'éditeur (Zones).

Pour celleux qui sont bien rôdé-es sur le féminisme, il sera peut-être moins intéressant. À nouveau, l'ouvrage prend plus la forme d'un manifeste que d'un essai sociologique. C'est très bien, mais cela a aussi ses défauts : le texte est plus subjectif, lié au vécu et ressenti de l'autrice (cis hétéro blanche blabla) et donc si on ne rentre pas dans les mêmes cases qu'elle, on peut se sentir un peu moins concerné. Le chapitre sur la maternité m'a particulièrement agacé, parce que les idées développées sont incapables de se détacher d'un vécu binaire, hétéro, du genre. Condamner la maternité, certes, mais pourquoi condamner la parentalité dans son ensemble? On peut refuser d'être une mère, de céder à la pression sociale autour de ce rôle attribué aux femmes, et réinventer sa propre manière d'être parent, en dehors de cette binarité des rôles hétérosexuels. Les témoignages cités semblent émaner uniquement des femmes cis et hétéro, qui ont refusé la maternité ou l'ont regretté, case dans laquelle l'autrice s'identifie. Rien n'est amené pour enrichir ce point de vue, et je trouve ça presque paresseux, convenu. À mon sens, c'est le genre de poncif qu'il serait temps que le féminisme dépasse.
Le reste des chapitres sont intéressants. Là encore, si on a déjà une culture féministe, ils n'enrichiront pas à outrance nos connaissances (cela dit, j'ai pu trouvé beaucoup de références biblio des romans et ça c'est chouette), mais c'est simplement parce qu'on n'est pas la cible du livre.
Dernier point : la figure de la sorcière n'est vraiment qu'un prétexte pour étayer son propos. Celleux qui s'attendent à une histoire ou une théorie approfondie sur les sorcières seront déçu-es.

Edit : je rajoute ma grogne sur l'invisibilisation des sorcières queer que j'ai développé dans les commentaires
Dans le chapitre sur la maternité, elle évoque des femmes qui regrettent d'être mère mais qui aiment leurs enfants, de mémoire ça dit quelque chose comme "j'aimerais pas que mes enfants disparaissent, juste je ne supporte pas le rôle de mère attribué par la société", et en lisant ça je me suis dit "ah chouette, un chapitre genre la parentalité sans la maternité" mais non, elle change de sujet et c'est plus abordé!
Aussi je crois que ce qui m'agace c'est que les sorcières queer ne sont jamais abordées, autant d'un point de vu historique que contemporain alors que j'ai personnellement l'impression que c'est très lié et que ça l'a toujours été. Et du coup, elle passe à côté de quelque chose quand elle évoque les sorcières du passé qui n'avaient pas d'enfant et le présentant comme un exemple à suivre de refus de maternité pour les hétéros, quand à la base c'était des sorcières queer. Une image qui est pourtant très présent dans la culture qu'elle mobilise, elle cite Willow comme un personnage à suivre d'empowerment sans relever qu'elle est queer, elle cite beaucoup Tituba aussi et passe sous silence qu'elle aimait une femme. J'ai l'impression qu'elle est passée à côté de quelque chose parce qu'elle voulait faire un livre pour les gens comme elles, meufs hétéros ayant besoin qu'on les autorise à refuser la maternité, et c'est très bien que ce soit là, mais à mobiliser la figure de la sorcière, très présente dans la culture queer, elle aurait pu se fendre déjà d'une admission de ce lien, et ensuite explorer justement des couples queer de sorcières contemporaines avec des enfants (car il y en a plein)! Et montrer qu'une autre manière de vivre sa parentalité, en dehors des hommes était possible, mais pour moi même aller plus loin et que même au sein d'un couple homme/femme c'est aussi quelque chose qui peut être dépassé. Elle se permet de dire "pour avoir l'égalité, refuser les enfants" (je cite de mémoire) mais pas "refuser le couple hétéro et ses rôles binaires", et sans pour autant dire aux femmes d'être queer (ce qui ne m'aurait pas traumatisé perso haha), mais juste de rappeler qu'au sein d'un couple homme/femme, autre chose est possible si on déconstruit le genre social. Ça n'aurait pas desservi son propos, et puis ça aurait rendu aux sorcières queer qu'elle cite sans le dire un hommage tout de même.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading vlog: https://youtu.be/cOpDBHrGjc4

ah this was a bit of a let down after looking forward to it for so long! i think there's some really valuable stuff in here regarding modern feminism, but i was really hoping for more examination of the historic parallels between how women accused of being witches were treated, and how women are treated now. it felt like that was really missing for me!

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book on feminism with a lot of information about society, women and history. But that wasn't what I'd been expecting. I had been hoping for a book about wiches. I'd hoped to read a bunch of trials, panic and how it still relates today. I think if I'd been prepared for the book I got instead of the book I had wanted, I would have rated this higher. As it was, I found the title created an idea of what it would be with a story it wasn't.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4 stars

I did the audiobook for this one and thought Alix Dunmore did an excellent job on the narration.

In Defense of Witches has interesting topics to discuss, points brought up on body autonomy, along with double standards on aging and sexual independence for women.

The author, Mona Chollet is French and I enjoyed the history, culture and resources of this area that was added to the book.

My only minor complaint is the book is more of a feminism theme then witchcraft and history during the Puritan panic.
It's still in the book but I would have liked more on that topic, and less on Gloria Steinem.

All though, I do see how feminism and witch hunts are interwoven.

Societies views on independent women, childless women, and any woman considered a rebel are still around.
In history, they were persecuted, accused and killed. Now, it’s more subtle but it’s still there.

I’m glad I got to this one!
It’s an interesting take on how history and current society are still struggling with feminism, what a woman’s role is in society, and how much control she has over body autonomy and medical decisions.

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on feminism with some interesting insights from a French POV, but a bit one note. I wonder if I would have liked this better if I had not previously read Silvia Frederici or Ehrenreich/English, which gave me more what I wanted from this kind of book

[julieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

La verdad pensé que este libro se iba a tratar más sobre brujas, no sé la portada y el título me engañaron un poco. Pero la verdad es que me encantó. Igual sí entra un poco en el tema de la brujería, pero lo lleva hacia el feminismo, incluso hacia el eco-feminismo. Me gusta mucho lo que plantea, aunque hay momentos en que me pareció que citaba demasiado, cosas como "una amiga dijo", o "alguien en twitter comentó", y aunque sé que esto en estos días de redes sociales es común, no deja de parecerme un poco extraño que cite cosas que leyó en twitter.
Pero igual me dejó con ganas de muchas lecturas que menciona, especialmente en la medicina, es alucinante como las mujeres fueron quedando cada vez más hechas a un lado. Igual me gustaría además leer mas sobre brujería, que está bueno el tema.

[♏ Gina☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to read this because the book was so important to me. The name drew me in, the content did the same.

This book looks at not only the sordid history of the burning of innocent women accused of being witches in Salem and elsewhere, but establishes how that history is still influential today.

The term "witch" itself conjures various images and most of those revolve around poorly drawn cartoons, demonic looking and raggedy clad old and evil women, and movies that include wicked witches.

The truth about witches is far more than that and far less evil and ugly. In today's world, a woman deemed to be too independent, too sure of herself, too aware of her self worth, and just plain solitary are sometimes called "witch", using the term in a most derogatory manner not fitting with the true definition of the word.

Read this book and become educated.

[Britta Böhler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment to be honest. One of the four parts was really good (chptr. 3, about ageism), but the other three I found rather 'meh'.

[Laura]

Although the topics discussed in this book are very important, I think the title is a little misleading. I thought I was picking up a book about women during the time of the witch hunts and how a lot of what they went through/how they were viewed is still seen in todays today but that’s not really what this is. It focuses on modern day misogyny a lot more than the past, when I kind of thought it would be the other way around.

Maybe it’s my own fault and I should have read up on it more before buying, but I know that there’s another edition of this book with a literal witch on a broomstick on the cover..so…

(Having said that though, it’s still an interesting read)

[Patricija || book.duo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Raganos pop kultūroje: kokios jos? Dažniausiai karpuotos senės, susivėlę ir susisukę po skaromis, sukriošę ir didelėmis nosimis, net prakaituojančios piktais ketinimais. Tokios tiesia Snieguolei obuolį, ketina suvalgyti Jonuką ir Grytutę, uždaro Rapunzelę bokšte, prakeikia Undinėlę kęsti baisiausius skausmus. Jos nekenčia vaikų. Arba juos grobia. O tada viskas pasikeičia. Skaras pakeičia aptemptos suknelės, plaukai vilnija kerinčiomis garbanomis, akį traukia nebe karpos, o kūno apvalumai, tarsi iš marmuro skaptuoti veidai, katės akys. Kas pasikeitė mumyse? Kodėl vaizduojame raganas vienaip, o ne kitaip? Ką mums reiškia jų senatvė, šlykštumas, bevaikystė, vienatvė? Ko iš tiesų bijome, kai sakome, kad bijome raganų?

Tai – vienas tų atvejų, kai pavadinimas velniškai klaidina. Kai galima pagalvoti, kad čia ieškosime vidinės deivės, nagrinėsime mėnulio fazes ir burtus, kuriais reikėtų vyrą prie savęs pririšti. Nieko panašaus, ačiū Dievui. Įdomus, tik vietomis sausokas tekstas, kupinas ne tik nuorodų į pop kultūrą, bet ir mokslinių, istorinių tekstų analizės. Retkarčiais autorė per daug pasineria į filmų ar knygų atpasakojimą, tačiau šiuolaikinės istorijos aiškinimas raganų teismų kontekste į puikią perspektyvą sudėlioja dalykus, apie kuriuos daug girdime, bet retai iš tiesų galvojame: moterų padėtį medicinoje, grožio industrijoje, literatūroje, pop kultūroje, švietime, madoje. M. Chollet daug kalba apie pasirinkimus: negimdyti, nedažyti žilų plaukų, netekėti, senti, o ne bandyti nepailstamai kišti koją natūraliam procesui. Ji svarsto: pykstame ant moterų, kai jos nusprendžia senti, pykstame ir tada, kai daro viską, kad tik senėjimą sustabdytų. Pykstame, kai pašvenčia gyvenimus tik vaikų gimdymui, pykstame ir kai pasirenka jų neturėti. Pykstame, kai teka per anksti, per vėlai, arba neteka visai. Kai mylisi per daug. Ar per mažai. Per jaunos, per senos. Autorė kelia nepaprastai įdomius klausimus: kam iš tiesų naudingas gimdos skėtiklis? Ar tikrai pas ginekologą reikia eiti kasmet? Kaip skatinami kūnus pažinti medicinos studentai, asistuodami operacijose? Kaip raginų deginimas susijęs su maro epidemijos protrūkiu?

Nors vietomis knyga atrodo nereikalingai ištęsta, o ypač kliūna filmų, serialų, knygų perpasakojimai, įdomūs faktai ir iš jų kylančios teorijos intriguoja. Visgi, tai nėra knyga visiškiems feminizmo pradinukams, o ir tikraaai ne tiems, kuriems feminizmas vis dar siejasi su vyrų nekentimu ir pažastų neskutimu. Ir nors neabejoju, kad šioje knygoje vietos įsižeisti rastų beveik kiekvienas, man tai buvo nepaprastai įdomus ir savo menka apimtimi stebėtinai įvairialypis, gausybe mokslinių ir istorinių šaltinių pagrįstas ir platų temų spektrą paliečiantis skaitinys.

[alli☀️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ★
The title of this book is a lie. One would assume it would discuss the witch trials and the witches, but it doesn't! I can't even comprehend why someone would make this title. This was not about the trials or witches.

I looked at another review summarizing my thoughts, so I’ll keep this short. This had four long and tedious chapters. I could not get invested. This was just the author going on and on about different feminist things. It felt like a mess. Of course, I believe certain things this author said were important, but I didn’t sign myself up to read about her rambling. I hoped for the author to describe the trials and for her to discuss them in detail. It was like the thought of witches was an afterthought. To sum up, it says that a woman doesn’t have to get married or have children and shouldn’t worry about aging. Also, most of the time, women don’t receive the proper care from doctors, which is true, but this author doesn't go into great detail.

[Laëtitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loin d'être le sujet anecdotique que l'on a longtemps considéré comme tel bien malgré nous, Mona Chollet fait de la chasse aux sorcières le point de départ de ses nombreuses réflexions féministes à travers un peu plus de 200 pages extrêmement bien documentées - on sent le travail de journaliste - et passionnantes. La figure repoussoir de la femme célibataire, la maternité comme réalisation essentielle de soi, la crainte de la vieillesse, la confiscation de la médecine, le rejet des émotions ; tout est abordé avec beaucoup d'intelligence et même parfois d'humour ! Un livre indispensable qui donne de la force et qui encourage à continuer de "remettre le monde sens dessus dessous" en questionnant les modèles classiques pour se réinventer.

[Eugenia Tenenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pese a que empecé a leer este ensayo con unas expectativas bastante altas respecto a datos históricos sobre la brujería en la Edad Moderna, me encontré con una revisión acertada y bien argumentada (aunque muy personal) de algunos de los prejuicios asociados a las brujas que siguen teniendo validez y significación hoy en día. Chollet nos coge la mano y, con ella, paseamos a través del mito de la belleza asociado a la juventud femenina, al imperativo de la maternidad si eres mujer (y el precio que pagamos aquellas que decidimos no serlo), al peso de la soltería, a las relaciones de poder en parejas con diferencia de edad y a la violencia médica y psiquiátrica que las mujeres hemos sufrido a lo largo de los siglos, entre otras problemáticas que la autora abarca no sólo desde su perspectiva y experiencia personal, sino apoyándose en multitud de fuentes que, al menos a mi parecer, me hacen tener un orgasmo con tan sólo mirar la cuidadísima y extensísima bibliografía de este libro.

Un ensayo que no sólo te plantea la cuestión de hasta qué punto las brujas siguen existiendo, sino que te guía hacia otras lecturas que, a priori, parecen igualmente interesantes. No le he dado 5 estrellas por lo mencionado al principio: eché de menos un mayor hincapié en el pasado de la brujería.

[Whiskers & Ink ( allie ☁️ ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Read in English translation.)

This book has single-handedly done more to quell my anxiety regarding the pressure of motherhood than therapy ever has, bless Mona Chollet.

If you’re expecting a comprehensive look at the figure of the witch, or even its modern iterations and feminist reclaiming, perhaps look elsewhere. Yes, Mona Chollet does address these topics: her opening chapter is a cathartic recentering of the European witch hunts as a massive femicide fuelled by intense misogyny, and throughout the book she disproves misunderstandings that have prevailed into our times—but beyond this and a passing glance at ecofeminism right at the end, In Defence of Witches isn’t really about witches themselves. Instead, it’s a look at patriarchal prejudices still alive today framed through the figure of the witch. Namely, the issues society has against childless, unmarried, elderly, independent women.

Chollet takes this structure and traces a direct pipeline between the mass-murder of women during the European witch trials and the reasons why women today are still being scrutinised for personal choices, albeit in subtler, yet more insidious ways. If you enjoyed Caroline Criado Pérez’s Invisible Women (and by “enjoyed” I mean, if your definition of a jolly good time is reading infuriating facts that reveal how inherently misogynistic society is), then In Defence of Witches is a book for you.

That said, anyone well-read in feminist studies is probably going to find this just alright. The topics she handles are fairly standard blocks in European feminist debate (motherhood as a woman’s only path to a fulfilling life, ageism as pertaining to women, structural misogyny in the medical establishment...). Chollet includes Brown and Black people in the conversation, but her perspective feels very much limited to the white European experience. Logical, given that she’s using the European witch as a framing device, but if you’re looking to read a more intersectional book that really challenges the boundaries of what constitutes as feminist issues, you’re better off reading something like Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism.

Still, I cannot stress what an impact reading In Defence of Witches has had on me. I think my immense appreciation for this book comes from reading it at a time when my own anxiety about the topics Chollet discusses was irrationally spiking. I have never felt more seen or heard than when reading the chapter on motherhood, an issue that has haunted me since I was a teenager (how’s that for messed up). Her ample references and links to other studies pack her essays with a punch. Through the echoes of the many women quoted in Chollet’s essays, I’ve realised I’m not alone in these anxieties, and their words laid on me like a comfort blanket.

If these are issues that bother you at a personal level, and you’re looking for cathartic validation, then much as it did for me perhaps In Defence of Witches will feel less like getting decked in the face and more like like a cup of tea with an understanding friend.

I can’t wait for more of her work to be published in translation!!

[littleprettybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

12/20

Ce regard sur la femme et son Histoire est une véritable porte d’entrée qui nous invite à questionner nos certitudes et à voir différemment l’image de la sorcière, largement transformée par l’imaginaire collectif. J’ai également été interpelée par certains sujets qui vont sans aucun doute beaucoup me marquer. Cependant, ce texte est à mes yeux trop radical, manque de nuances, et en devient contradictoire dans ses propos, tout en étant un peu répétitif dans sa structure.

Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book when it focuses on the history of witches, witchhunts, historical oppression of independent women, and the use of witches as a feminist metaphor. The book becomes a bit more mundane in the last third when it covers important issues like marriage, the medical establishment, looks, etc. but from a more straightforward non-witch focused point of view. Also quite interesting to see a French point of view on feminist theory and issues.

**Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative of women equating to witches/witch hunts was pretty foundational early on, but lost the thread as the book continues. Important perspectives on womanhood that focus on multinational perspectives and a lot of very interesting vignettes. Not perfect for me, but know people will enjoy this quite easily.

[Muffinsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un essai hyper intéressant et très engagé qui fait vraiment réfléchir ! N’ayant pas l’habitude des essais, je l’ai trouvé assez dense et toutes les parties ne m’ont pas fascinée de la même manière, mais dans l’ensemble c’est une découverte très forte et captivante.

[Amelia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @30%-ish

The vague witch theming and passionate promise of this book duped me into buying somebody's overlong Gender Studies 101 term paper. If, like this reviewer, you're anything other than the most normie kind of suburban white mom, the entire content of this will be old news.