Even More of *On Witchcraft*

I thought that it was funny in this reading that the accused was a man instead of a woman. Usually those accused of witchcraft in literature are woman. Of course, this isn't just usual literature - this is something written by a witness to the events. But I remember reading something about a woman accused of being a false preacher... or something like that. I can't remember exactly what it was about, but it was still a woman.

It seems a little weird that most people that today's culture reads about who were accused of witchcraft were women. It seems a little... I don't know... sexist? Is that a word I want? Not that it's wrong for women to be witches or anything - it just seems that women get accused of all the bad stuff that's happened: take Eve and the apple. Just saying.

So the question remains: why don't readers hear more of the male-accused-sects?

Take some popular movies:
*The Wizard of Oz*
*Hocus Pocus*
*The Witches of Eastwick*
*The Craft*
*Haxen*
*Practical Magic*
*Suspiria*
just to name a few, where women are portrayed as evil, wicked witches. Or if not right out evil and wicked, then shunned by other "normal" people. (Though that question begs this: what does one consider as actually *normal*?) Take *Practical Magic*; Sandra Bullock and Nichole Kidman both play witches who are totally and completely different than the witch seen in *The Wizard of Oz*. Neither are green or ugly - no, they look just like any other person. And they just want to live a normal life. But because it's well known that they practice the Craft, those who don't shun their beliefs without fully understanding them. Although, not to spoil anything (because I really recommend watching it for yourself), eventually the "normies" open up more and become more accepting.

Which leads a bit more to the next point: people fear that which they don't understand. (Well, duh - of course! It's a little thing called human nature.) I think that a lot of innocent lives could have been saved if people would just have taken a deep breath and said, "Ok - they're different. So what? They still breathe the same air I do. If they don't eat, they'd die just like I would." People don't fear the "darkness" because it's evil; they fear it because it's dark and unknown. I'm not sure about the lot of you, but if I don't understand something, it has the ability to scare the hell out of me too at times. So it's alright to be scared. Just don't treat people differently because they're different.

Anywho, I was happy that Mather gave modern readers a look into the fact that men were accused too. It's not just a woman thing...
(Spongebob Squarepants cr Stephen Hillenburg; no money was made off of this image! Don't sue; you'll only get college debt!!! And the old, crushed crackers I found in the bottom of my purse...)