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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you have been burned as a witch?

200 replies

Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:13

I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about the history of witch hunting and I never appreciated the sheer scale of it and how it has affected women for centuries since. It never made sense to me how much women have participated in their own oppression through the centuries, and even today. Why there are such different gender standards around beauty, appearance and aging.

All sorts of women were arrested, brutalised and sadistically tortured for weeks or months (not even necessarily for information because whether they confessed or not , or recanted made little difference) and publicly executed, sometimes horrifically.

The spurious grounds for arrest and interrogation included

being old, or menopausal, or just looking old (statistically most of the women murdered were over 40)

being ugly, unattractive, having bad teeth, scars or bruises on your face, a limp or bad posture, or using artificial means to look more attractive (false eyelashes anyone?)

Being poor, a drain on communal resources (on benefits?),

practising medicine (cater, midwife, nurse, doctor?),

having no relatives, or relatives who don’t like you (anyone estranged from family or not get on with the in-laws?), or related to anyone who might meet the criteria of witch

struggling with your mental health, or related to , or associated with someone with mental health issues

working for anyone suspected of witchcraft, or working for someone who is suspicious of witchcraft - not good to be too good at your job or not good enough. Also being made redundant was a dangerous time.

insolent, mouthy, argumentative, or just too talkative

involved in social unrest (ever been on a march or signed a petition?), expressed anti authority views (commented online?)

causing a man to be impotent (dh ever struggle to keep an errection?) or to lose control of his sexual urges (ever been a victim of SA or rape?)

sexually promiscuous (eg not a nun), knowing anything about contraception, or anything about abortion

likes dancing or drinks alcohol

Dressing in men’s clothing (own a pair of jeans?)

Illwished or cursed anyone (Fottfsof), or made occult signs (flipped the finger?)

And, if you’re a man reading this, knowing or being related to anyone fitting the above criteria could get you dragged in too.

So, would you be likely to be found guilty of witchcraft?

YABU - My conduct is beyond reproach in every way
YANBU - I might have ended up tied to a stake

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
Idratherbepaddleboarding · 01/10/2023 08:14

Probably, I have witchy hair 😂.

Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:15

I haven’t included being on mumsnet as a sign of being a witch but let’s just say I have a hypothesis!

OP posts:
Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:16

You might escape suspicion if you cover it up like a “good” woman

OP posts:
Polkadotjarmies · 01/10/2023 08:16

Yep. Left handed too ...

Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:16

Polkadotjarmies · 01/10/2023 08:16

Yep. Left handed too ...

Forgot that one! Very sinister
But a kind teacher could have beaten that out of you in school to keep you safe.

OP posts:
ZekeZeke · 01/10/2023 08:17

Yes, I talk and sing to myself A LOT

Hedjwitch · 01/10/2023 08:17

As an agnostic and herbalist,definitely. Read this if you want to be really outraged.

Would you have been burned as a witch?
Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:18

@Hedjwitch thanks. Looks good

OP posts:
DobbyTheHouseElk · 01/10/2023 08:18

Interesting.

Today, yes definitely.

Back then, who knows. Would I have been so conditioned not to be any of those things? Today I’m free enough to be my own person, but with the constraints of the time….who knows.

I support women and women’s issues. I have more than a passing interest in herbs and using nature’s medicine.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 01/10/2023 08:19

I’m left handed too and talk to myself a lot.

Thepeppapigfanclub · 01/10/2023 08:19

I tick a lot of the above. And I'm left-handed with red hair...

Not looking good is it. 😂

Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:20

@DobbyTheHouseElk its interesting to think how much we’d have to restrain our selves compared with today.

even a couple of generations ago some of these things could have seen us institutionalised.

OP posts:
Jennalong · 01/10/2023 08:20
Wizard Of Oz Comedy GIF

Tick most of them ! I'm a gonna .

olderbutwiser · 01/10/2023 08:21

Very likely. Certainly would have been tried. I had a beauty spot on my face that grew up to be a hairy mole. (since removed). On the other hand I have always been a cowardly goody goody and endured a miserable marriage for 18 years without cracking so I might have survived.

Ohthatsabitshit · 01/10/2023 08:21

No I don’t think I would have. I think I’m too ruthless. I’d have learnt the rules and used them.

Original poster
Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:22

@olderbutwiser I hope you’re in a better situation now?

OP posts:
ClaribelLowLieth · 01/10/2023 08:22

I have a third nipple!
And I’m quiet and shy - would probably have lived alone

I think about this quite a lot really - like the Roman Empire thing - I think the effects are still with us.

ProvisionsOnTheDock · 01/10/2023 08:23

Left handed, grumpy, face like a slapped arse. I'd be surprised if I wasn't burned as a witch.

OurChristmasMiracle · 01/10/2023 08:24

Yep I would be a witch. You have found out my secret!!! Curses the internet and its ability to out us!!

I would be condemned purely for having no parents and a estranged sister, without anything else

JaneKatSuttonGoals · 01/10/2023 08:24

Left handed, redhead with green eyes & quite partial to drinking & dancing & live in jeans.
There would have been no hope for me..

BlackcatsAndPumpkins · 01/10/2023 08:24

There's an interesting article about Matthew Hopkins who was paid a lot of money to hunt down witches,he was a very evil man. I think they made a film starting Vincent Price about him, also a play.
I live on my own with three black cats, so inevitably l would have either been hung or drowned.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 01/10/2023 08:24

I’m going to think more about this actually. It’s an interesting thought.

I first read a book when I was 14 in school about herbology. That took me on my path. But I wouldn’t have seen that in those times.

OzziePopPop · 01/10/2023 08:25

Undoubtedly. I’m autistic and (now) disabled, a wheelchair user, I’d be screwed 😂

Lengokengo · 01/10/2023 08:25

Would have probably become a nun (depending on the era). Am also a cowardly goody-goody so would have endured a lot of rubbish and not spoken up. My rebellion would have been to be a non believing nun.

Idratherbepaddleboarding · 01/10/2023 08:26

Nonplusultra · 01/10/2023 08:16

You might escape suspicion if you cover it up like a “good” woman

Oh, I’m left handed too so there’s no chance for me…