Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2015

 

Why Did Women Become the Main Victims of Witch-Hunts in Early Modern Europe?

(Abstract)

 

Xu Shanwei

 

One of the most notable features of witch-hunts in early modern Europe was that their victims were mainly women. The causes of this phenomenon were initially discussed by feminist scholars in the 1970s, whence it was gradually taken up by historians. Scholars of different schools have since then gone deeply into the question, offering explanations to issues like “Were witches all women?” “Was misogyny the reason women were the main victims of witch-hunts?” “Were witch-hunts directly related to the gender conflict, the intensification of patriarchy and autocracy, and the reconstruction of a patriarchal society?” Almost all feminist scholars and a few academics have given a positive answer to these questions, but most academics reject this approach. An important trend, however, is that since the ’90s, scholars of all schools have affirmed the importance of gender theory; research on gender and witchcraft, and witch-hunts have become the focus of historical research, so that the relevant research century has deepened and diversified in the late 20th century and early 21st century.