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Religion and gender inequalities
Reflection about McCarthyism
Religion and gender inequalities
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When someone mentions “witch hunts”, we tend to think about the witchcraft trials that took place during the 14th-16th centuries in Europe or even the Salem Witch trials that accorded during the beginnings of America. Fueled by mass hysteria and fear, the results of these trials ended in burnings or lynching of those believed to be associated with witchcraft. At the heart of these trials we find the influence of society (i.e., widespread fear) and politics which in this case involved the legal courts. Witch hunts were sustained for so long because they were effective in limiting social deviancy, any variation of the norm would land you with the stigma of practicing witchcraft. Since the witch hunts ended with the deaths of so many (mainly innocent) individuals, the idea of conducting a witch hunt has garnered a negative social connotation. Though we would like to believe, however, that the days of being consumed by such irrationality as the witch hunts are over, the 1950s hunt for communists proves this belief false. Similar to the way the idea McCarthyism was accepted, modern day witch hunts have come under the guise of maintaining stability and social order. The responsibility of control is deferred to individuals in positions of political and religious power, for these are the people who can manipulate governmental laws and impact social opinions in favor of social normalcy which influences gender ideology.
To understand how laws and social opinions can be altered by those in power to reflect the ideals of the majority, we must first know the link between political and religious ideology. In short, religion and politics are the factors that gender ideology are modeled to fit within society. In a political sense, laws...
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...gion, attacks on these ties are met with resistance. That being said, in order to combat threats to social and moral codes religion increases the intensity of its forces (i.e., political and religious powers). An increase in power generally results in an attempt to eliminate threats. This is done so by using political sway and religious policies which are enforced by government officials and religious leaders. It is important to note here that the individuals that come into power bring with them their own sets of beliefs and morals; these individual systems may or may not fall under the realm of societal norms. However, it is here that we find the most utilization of power in order to defend their system of beliefs. As far as gender ideology goes, the very foundations of it hinges upon the decision of those in power to set laws and help shape social opinions.
Karlsen, Carol. "Witchcraft: Prejudice and Intolerance Targeted Gender During the Witch Hunts: Effects on Early Mode." setonhill.edu. n.p., 1998. Web. 18 February. .
The period of witch-hunting existed from around 1450 to 1750, with the height of the European movement between 1560 and 1630. Whilst many have tried to argue that witch-hunting was women-hunting this comment cannot be justified, women were the primary victims of the witch craze but not the only ones, as one in five witches were men. The high percentage of women was not because of a vendetta against the sex but rather the patriarchal understanding that women were more vulnerable to the wills of the devil and therefore more likely to become witches.
One of such factor was to restore moral balance and insecurities in the society. The two notorious witch hunters in the book John Stearne and Matthew Hopkins are presented hunting witches in East Anglian mainly through interrogating the suspects. The main method that is used in the interrogation is torture and some suspects mainly the elderly women confess of being witches. Some of them are killed as an act of removing these evil acts from the society. Generally, witches are associated with evil acts in the society and therefore them being wiped from the society was a sign of ensuring morals are maintained in the in the society and eliminating insecurity issues related to witches. Another short term factor that led to witch hunt was to ensure that the society lived and uphold Christians’ values. The witch hunters used the teachings of the Bible in hunting the witches with the objective of hunting them out from the society. This was aimed at wiping out evil acts from the society and ensuring the people lived the Christian
Gender inequality has been a major issue for many centuries now. Societies insist in assigning males and females to different roles in life. The traditional stereotypes and norms for how a male and female should present themselves to the world have not changed much over time. But individuals are more than just their gender and should have the right to act and be treated the way they want. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
THE WITCH-HUNT IN MODERN EUROPE By: Brian Levack The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on the circumstances from which the witch-hunts emerged, as this report will examine. The causes of witch-hunting have been sometimes in publications portrayed differently from reality. The hunts were not prisoner escapee type hunts but rather a hunt that involved the identification of individuals who were believed to be engaged in a secret activity. Sometimes professional witch-hunters carried on the task, but judicial authorities performed most. The cause of most of these hunts is the multi-causal approach, which sees the emergence of new ideas about the witches and changes in the criminal law statutes. Both point to major religious changes and a lot of social tension among society. The intellectual foundations of the hunts were attributed to the witch’s face-to-face pact with the devil and the periodic meetings of witches to engage in practices considered to be barbaric and heinous. The cumulative concept of witchcraft pointed immediately to the devil, the source of the magic and the one most witches adored. There was strong belief then that witches made pacts with the devil. Some would barter their soul to the devil in exchange for a gift or a taste of well being.
In the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, society was greatly centered around the church and its teachings. In this community there was little to no religious diversity, mostly everyone were Protestant. This religion had many restrictions on its followers and influenced how they should behave as well as determine what they are allowed to do. The townspeople took their religion to such an extent to appoint “…a two-man patrol whose duty was to ‘walk forth in the time of God’s worship to take notice of such as either…may be accordingly proceeded against’”(4). The church was also strongly against “vain enjoyment”, restricting Protestant and prohibiting actions such as dancing. The so-called “witch hunt” of 1692 started with Abigail and her friends going into the woods to worship around a fire and saying love spells. Due to fear of the judgment of their society and possible consequences, the girls that were with Abigail that night decided to go along with her story and accused the outcasts of the town of witchcraft. All of the girls, except Mary Warren, conformed to the idea of witchcraft because that was what they were taught growing. However, Mary Warren saw through Abigail Parris’ lies and threats and eventually accu...
Concerning why the witch hunts occurred when they did the agreed upon opinion by all three author’s is the social unrest and uncertainty felt due to the Protestant Reformation and the schism it created amongst the populace, the effects of recovering from plague and war, and the enforced patriarchal structure of a society that was changing. It was during the Reformation that Christian...
There have been various explanations by different historians for why the majority of Witches accused were woman. One of the first models concerning Witchcraft and gender to be produced was the ‘Witch-cult‘ idea. This theory was devised by Margaret Murray in the early 20th century and revolved around the idea of Witchcraft being an actual pre-Christian religion. This pagan woman-based religion centred around ‘The Horned God’ who from the Christian point of view was Satan. Murray writes that the ‘God of the old religion becomes the Devil of the new.’ This religion concerned woman in that it was being supressed by the Christian Church which was a male dominated organisation with an exclusively male hierarchy. In effect the whole Witch-hunt affair was a persecution of woman by men, both being polar opposites even in religion. Murray’s thesis proved very popular with radical feminists from the 1960s onwards, providing the feminist movement with a sort of rallying point, further exaggerating the sex specific elements in the Murray model. Murray’s thesis however, was attacked from day one and continues to be discredited to this day due to the lack of evidence in support of it and th...
...they don’t understand. Reactions of witch-hunts were based on misconceived panic and anxiety of anything outside of the common religious beliefs. Because of poor record keeping, the exact numbers of men and women persecuted on the account of being witches may never be accurate enough to decide if it was an issue of misogyny.
The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria was a product of women’s search for power. This claim is supported by Lyle Koehler, from A Search for Power: The “weaker sex” in seventeenth-century New England (University of Illinois, 1980), explained and argues why this is true. Koehler mentions that the women were in search for more power and respect and power equality. She mentioned that the men were afraid of witches because they felt they were superior to them which brought in the question of who really was the superior gender. But really, the women accused others as being witches so as to gain more power from men. Basically, this showed that the women were not afraid of controlling or taking the power from men. In the seventeenth century, the men had power; so therefore, women did anything and would do anything to gain more power than the men. In puritan society, the only women with any significant power were mothers. They had powers not only in their homes but also in the public as long as they accused people of being witches. They also implicated others to achieve this power. An example that Koehler gave would be sociologist Dodd Bogart’s conclusion that “demon or witch charges are attempt to restore “self-worth, social recognition, social acceptance, social status and other related social rewards” is pertinent to the Salem village situation.
In The Crucible, many individuals in the Salem community lost their lives due to the fictitious thought that witchcraft had arisen in the town. Likewise, many civilians died as a result of police officers belief that the general public preyed on them. This type of paranoia can lead to the destruction of lives. Statistics show that rather than the citizens hunting down police officers, the media exaggerated this idea. This media tactic unnecessarily endangers innocent lives. The idea of a “witch hunt” does not only happen in stories, it has a role in the everyday lives of Americans.
Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13). The church and its teachings instil low self-esteem and low self-worth in women; it creates false identities that are supposed to be God’s plan (Daly 3). One has to wonder why women participate in the church and follow its teachings, and how women can overcome the oppression in the church.
With these culturally constructed gender roles, however, comes gender stratification. In the United States, for example, women are generally free to do as they please as it is becoming less the social norm to participate in traditional gender roles, though there is still a double standard in society and the workplace. Even the act of marriage itself has rituals that assign specific gender roles, including the bridge being ‘given away’ to her husband, and her being expected to take his last name. This also continues into marriage, where the wife is traditionally assigned to the home, and in charge of doing the cooking and caring for the children. In other countries, such as India and Saudi Arabia, however, women are discriminated against by the government, which aids in the maintenance of strict gender roles in society. Using the...
Hans Baldung 'Grien', 1510. The Hammer and the Hunt Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions
The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate position to man. The female role and relationship with God is defined by the various books of the Old and New Testaments, the reported actions of Jesus Christ, and finally the Qur'an.