Sexual Witchcraft Colonialism And Women's Power Summary

The article “Sexual Witchcraft, Colonialism and Women’s Powers” by Ruth Behar identifies some of the reasons associated to women’s use of witchcraft in colonial Mexico. Behar’s analyses the aspects of women’s super natural powers in Europe, Spain, Castile and central Mexico. In addition, she analyses three themes that explain some of the reasons of women’s power. The first theme is the image of the world in reverse, women at the time wanted to stop their subordination to men and have control over their husbands. Women used their powers to defend themselves from their abusive and violent husbands. This is why; most women had come to the point of bewitching their husbands. Some of these women attempt to “atontar” or “stupefied” their husband …show more content…
Witches flying through the air were considered fantasies. On the other hand, witchcraft was define differently in various places and was treated differently by the religious elite and how this influences the practice of female power. Instead, in northern Europe a witch was consider as an old ugly and poor women while women involved in witchcraft in Castile were usually young unmarried women living in casual unions with men; they were also servants, maids and sometimes prostitutes .In southern Spain were the moriscas, women who were mixed Spanish and Moorish blood.
Women developed in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, a symbolic language and beliefs as an act of resisting, punishing and even controlling the men who dominated them. Since most women were victims of their abusive husbands they use witchcraft as revenge with a more subtle form of violence against them. Another point analyzed by Behar is that female exercise power in the private rather than public domain. Women’s witchcraft powers were seen as form of dominance and symbolic power, which helped them to change the behavior of the men who control