Sexism In The Salem Witch Trials

In 17th-century Colonial America, contact with the supernatural was considered part of everyday life; many people believed that evil spirits were present and active on Earth. This superstition emerged 15th century Europe and spread with the colonization of North American puritan colonies. Women were believed to be the most susceptible to demonic behavior; females were considered simple targets for Satan due to being viewed as the weaker sex physically, spiritually, and morally. Women who did not conform to the Puritan ideals at the time were usually ostracized, institutionalized, or brutally murdered. In 1692, thirteen women were famously put on trail for accusations of witchcraft; famously known as the Salem Witch Trails. Most of these women were put on trial and later burned to death for erratic and un-Godly behaviors, 78% of the people charged were women who were accused of doing devilish things such as; speaking out against church officials, being a financially wealthy widow, having pre marital sex, or just being too beautiful. According to Michael Coren’s Why Catholics are Right “five million women were killed by the Church as witches… witch hunts began in the sixteenth century in Europe and that between 30,000 and 50,000 men and women were burned to death for

From the time of the 1690’s the entirety of Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans. “The Puritan lifestyle was restrained and rigid: People were expected to work hard and repress their emotions or opinions. Individual differences were frowned upon.” (Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria). These people believed that doing anything sinful would result in punishment from God. Just as much as they believed in God, they also believed in the Devil. Keeping up with the Puritan code, it led to the first women being accused of witchcraft. They were viewed as pariahs, and seen differently. Had the Puritan government let the afflicted defend themselves, not be so dependent on religion, not investigating the facts or scrutinize the trials the killing of many could have been prevented. The hangings from the trials would ultimately be the last in America.

To illustrate, a passage from John Demos’ “Underlying Themes in the Witchcraft of 17th Century New England” states the gender and age range of the accused witches and accusers (Document 5). Furthermore, the document provides proof of the overwhelming amount of widowed, married, and single women, specifically twenty-nine single, sixty-one married, and twenty widowed women. Evidence reveals that mainly women were targeted in the accusations, which suggests that this chaos was brewed out of jealousy and spite. Equally important, the names of the people who were killed throughout the Salem Witchcraft hangings and the dates the deaths occurred are listed in the Salem Court Records (Document 2). Of all the names listed, most were women, revealing that socially, men were not seen as the threat, even though men have always come off as more dominant than women. Names listed also reveal that some of the people were from the same family, confirming that the accusers could have had a vendetta against specific families. From the evidence in these two documents, it can be concluded that there was a social motive for the hysteria of the Salem Witch

The Puritans during the witch hunt believed that women were unholy by nature and felt that women should be “sweet” and responsible, and if you didn’t act as such they would accuse you of being a witch. They lived under harsh rules and brought the same intolerance they had from fleeing England to escape to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Majority of the accusations of being a witch were women but not all. An Indian woman named Tituba that was purchased from the Barbados by Samuel Parris was being a witch. She had very good knowledge of the supernatural and they began to suspect her of being accused for witchcraft or

The Salem Witch Trials were a dark part of American History that we learn about today. The question always remains as to why this hysteria of witchcraft outbreak happened. How the outbreak of accusations started is something that is speculated to be from jealousy, a disease caused by a rye poisoning, or from a psychogenic disease. We should also be asked what were the roles of men and women in these trials, why was it mainly women accused, why was it only men holding the trials? The gender roles in these trials were based upon the belief that women were somehow still incapable to handle such things and were not made to do such things. Yet when young girls accused grown women of acts of witchcraft, unless a man defended that woman, they could do nothing but let the men prosecute them for something they never did. Men ran everything in towns, because that was the norm for this time period. So, what could women do to defend themselves? They had no power to fend against the men who ran everything in their society.

The group of people that thought all the victims were men were inevitably wrong. Out of the nineteen people who were lynched in Salem, four of them were males. One of those men was a minister who was Harvard educated. In fact, there was an abundance of accused witches with the youngest one being a five-year-old. She spent most of 1692 in manacles being interrogated which caused her to later be diagnosed as insane. In this time, women did not incriminate their husbands, while the husbands would accuse their wife of being witches without hesitation. It was more difficult to accuse a man of being a wizard because you had to have concrete material against him. The Harvard

Puritans believed in the devil and his role as strong as they believed in God and his role. For many centuries, Puritans had the idea that the weakest individuals in society often committed diabolical acts and sins. Furthermore, Satan selected the most vulnerable individuals to do his bidding, among these individuals, women were often held responsible for many sins, including witchcraft. (Godbeer 12). According to Richard Godbeer, in his book, The Salem Witch Hunt, “it was Eve who first gave away to Satan and seduced Adam.” (Godbeer 12). In 1692, witchcraft became a panic among Puritan society. Even though both men and women were accused of witchcraft, women were seventy-six percent more likely to be accused in Salem than men. (Godbeer 12). Puritan society was a male dominate society and men looked down upon women. The reasons to why women in particular were often accused of being witches, was in regards to certain events that associated with accusations. These events were being of relatively low social status and income, being rich or financially independent and being a midwife or nurse.

Salem Witch Trials was a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in the Salem Village of the 17th century New England. The trials caused executions of many people, mostly women. Salem Witch Trials exposed the different gender roles during the seventeenth century. Women were supposed to take on “wifely duties” such as, be mothers and housewives. Women were taught to follow the men. There were strict religious norms during the seventeenth century. There was rigid moral code believed that God would punish sinful behavior. Those who were under the covenant by the church of the Salem Village believed that Satan would select those to fulfill his work and those who followed Satan were considered witches. Witchcraft was considered a punishable crime. Salem Witch Trials revealed that gender played a role for the accused and accusers. The trials also revealed that one’s relationship with God will set deliverance from Satan’s attacks. Salem Witch Trials demonstrated how rumors, jealousy, and the idea of male dominance affected people of the Salem Village.

A definite theory on why the Salem Witchcraft was so strongly believed involved how powerful gender roles were. Although it is claimed in the Puritan ways that women were to be treated with kindness and consideration, they were to be seen very little and never heard. Wives and

By examining the end to witchcraft, a reader can further see the importance of socioeconomic status during the trials. The afflicted girls discovered their role in putting an end to the allegations by accusing the highest members of Puritan society. Here a reader realizes it was not just mostly women who were accused, but mostly women of low socioeconomic status. Once women began denouncing the most prestigious members, others began speaking out and fighting in favor of the accused. For example, colonial economic and political leaders started objecting the accusations once “the bewitched had charged the wives of critics Moody, Hale, and Dane, as well as several members of Boston’s ruling elite.” On the off-chance that people never blamed the elite members of society who knows how long the Salem Witch Trials would have kept going.

The events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 have had historians scrutinizing over the causes for years. There have been several theories about how the situation became so out of control. The haunting story is well known in America, taught to our youth and has been the focus of numerous forms of media. We are familiar with the story but unfamiliar with the origin of its beginnings. The role of religion and the presence of mob psychology were the primary catalyst behind the Salem witch trials.

In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls

As long as mankind, women have usually always come second to men. Since ancient times, a woman’s status in Egypt usually always depended on the father or husband, but they had the right to own property and could attend court. During the Salem Witch Trials and Hunts, sexism was a huge part that ignited the trials between the 15th and 18th centuries. Also, until the 20th century, the English law stated "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage" (Blackstone, 2008). By this, it meant, legally, women were not defined as a “person”. To this day, sexism is still a major problem, not just in the US, but all around the world. Some of the sexism that still goes on in today’s society all around the world include gender stereotypes, gender targeting of advertisements, catcalling, sexual harassment/violence, domestic violence, rape, health rights, and the infamous wage gaps.

It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister 's daughter began to scream and convulse, while other girls manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor suggested one cause, witchcraft. That grim diagnosis launched a Puritan inquisition that took 24 lives, filled prisons with innocent people, and frayed the soul of a Massachusetts community called Salem. It ended less than a year later, but not before the hanging of 20 men and women, including an elderly man who was crushed to death. The hysteria spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in Salem. Aside from suffrage, the Salem witch trials represent the only moment when women played a central role in American history. There are many theories as to what caused the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials and the bewitchment of several young girls including the lack of freedom and want of attention from young girls, the role of religion and Satan in Salem, lack of verifiable evidence, economic and social divisions within the community, and the possibility of ergotism.

Society mistreated most women in Salem 1692. Being a female means she is automatically open to abuse by men and even other women who saw themselves as being above you.