My novel, The Making of a Witch, is about how a young woman in 17th century England came to attract the label “witch” through no fault of her own – except that she was a strong woman. She was one of several hundred people, mostly women, who were accused of witchcraft in England, primarily during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of them were executed for this “crime.”
Yet as I look around today, it seems that such witch hunts do not just belong to the past, but are still taking place today, in 2024.
Some men (although not all men) are afraid of the ability of women to give birth, and of the way women are connected to the universal power of life.
Their fear drives them to demean women and to impose their patriarchal control over reproductive rights. The overturning of the federal Roe v. Wade law in 2022 is a clear example of this. Since then, 14 states have enacted total abortion bans. This is pure misogyny.
Remember the case of Brock Turner, the 19-year-old Stanford University student who in 2016 was convicted on three charges of felony sexual assault but was only sentenced to six months in jail? He was released early, due to “good behavior” and actually served only three months. Turner had raped an unconscious woman outside of a fraternity party. It was only thanks to two Swedish bikers who witnessed Turner thrusting into an immobile, partially unclothed woman next to a dumpster, and restrained him while they called the police that this rape was brought to light. How many times has this happened when no good Samaritans were around to help?
Numerous women who are victims of sexual assault have stated they don’t report the crime because that they are afraid they won’t be believed or that their assailant will find ways to punish them for speaking up.
And did I mention Brett Kavanaugh?
Take the case of 24-year-old Natasha O’Brien, who earlier this summer had been walking home from her job in a Limerick, Ireland, pub when she came across 22-year-old Cathal Crotty yelling “faggot” at passersby. She asked him to stop; in response he hit her so hard that she fell on the ground and he continued punching her until she lost consciousness. At Crotty’s sentencing in June, judge Tom O’Donnell labeled the crime “utterly appalling” before suspending Crotty’s three-year jail sentence on the grounds that although he had been convicted, Crotty had pleaded guilty and such a sentence could harm his career in the army.
In protest, thousands of women and men in Cork, Galway, Dublin and Limerick marched on Saturday, June 22, to demand justice for victims of gender-based violence.
Yes, the patriarchy is still alive and while the word “witch” may not be used, women are still subject to witch hunts.