Common Misconceptions: The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials took place in the year 1692 and lasted more than a year. The popular witch hunt took place in colonial Massachusetts. Demos (2009), explains that during the late 1600’s witch trials were actually not as popular as most people thought in regards to historical significance (p.1311). He also explains that even though the witch hunt was not considered a big event, the trials still involved and affected many different people in both age, sex, and social status (Demos, 1970, p. 1315). Most people in our society now have common misconceptions about the people who stood trial and the people who were blamed during these witch trials. The common misconceptions were that they were female, young and in good families, and women with
According to Pavlac (2009), this was known as the Witches Marks (p. 119). Pavlac (2009), writes that this mark meant the Devil was marking and claiming his own person (p.119). These marks were thought to be in a place where women could nourish their obeying demons who fed off of it by suckling blood, magic, or milk. The author mentioned that any strange blemish seen on a women’s body could have been a Witches Mark. In particular many examiners looked for them among women’s genitalia (Pavlac, 2009, p.119). The author also writes, because of “[t]his feminine aspect of nursing the imp, [it] may have been a factor in the…targeting… [of] women as witches much more frequently than men, who were not seen as providers of nourishment from the body” (Pavlac, 2009, p.119). This thought process is what led people to believe that more women were witches. This statement by Pavlac shows that in the late 1600’s sexism was very
But it is clear that the witch hunt made most of their targets women. Even though some men practiced witchcraft too, women still remained the image of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials because of their image of being evil. Women got blamed more than men because they provided nourishment from their body where men could not. Women also became targets because of their lower social standing and age. The Puritans made assumptions by looking at age and social class as good reasons for making deals with Satan. Their belief was women in this type of state had nothing more to live for. The people involved with the persecution in the trials were all males and this did not make the situation any better in regards to persecuting and accusing women. The Salem Witch Trials were a prime example of sexist attitudes towards