Beyond the Double Bind [antikvár]

The Binds That Tie IN 1631, in Cmtio Criminalis, Julius Friedrich Spec identified one no-win situation in which prosecutors placed women accused of witchcraft. The suspected witch was submerged in a pond. If she drowned, she deserved to; if she didn't, she was a witch. In the first case, God was revealing her nature; in the second, the devil. Under torture, women either did or did not admit to complicity with Satan. If they did, they were executed for their crime. If they didn't, their silence was attributed to solidarity with Satan and they too were marched off to the stake. ^ Although he didn't know it, Spee had identified a trap set for women throughout history. When our foremothers overstepped prescribed boundaries, they confronted situations constructed to ensure that they were guilty until proven guilty. More often than not, the accused was vulnerable because she was unprotected by a father, husband, or son and had increased her susceptibility to suspicion by asserting her right to influence other women. These 'Svitches" were likely to be older, unmarried, childless women who practiced healing, transmitted advice about contraception, or used speech in socially disapproved ways. Unprotected by men and outside a woman's "natural" sphere, these women were presumed susceptible to the wiles of Satan. It was with him that they coupled at night. In his name, they slaughtered infants and tormented townspeople. Once suspected of witchcraft, a woman was propelled into the no-win situations described by Spee. Viewing the inevitable penalty attached to public speech and private healing, women were enjoined to stay where, the argument went, nature and nature's God required.