Masculinity and Males Witches in Old and New England

Masculinity and Males Witches in Old and New England

Masculinity and Males Witches in Old and New England is an essay by E. J. Kent, which focuses on male witches in England between 1593 and 1680. Male witches were considered secondary targets of accusations aimed fundamentally at women. The designation ‘witch’ had long been used about women involved with witchery, but historians have regarded the designation as a gender-neutral category. However, gender and male witchcraft have suggested that male witches be feminized and represent a masculinity failure. Male witches were uncritically considered feminine subjects and weak-minded. However, most male witches’ accusers did not cite them as weak-minded and powerless, contrary to social perceptions. Male witches were often accused of maleficium crimes such as murder and causing harm to property and animals. Others were often accused of crimes mostly attributed to females witches such as enchanting, conjuring, charming, and sorcery.

Male counterparts often accused male witches from the same neighborhood and within a male community that was fundamentally antagonistic and competitive, as expressed in Stockdale’s case. Male witches and their accusers often arose from contentious individuals with wealth and high social status in the society compared to female witches. The witchcraft narrative surrounding male witches in this era is a story of power struggles between influential and wealthy males. Female accusers were often wives to the male witches. In Hugh Parsons’ case, his wife Mary was the chief accuser, and she rallied forty-one members from their community. Among the accusers, twenty-eight were males and fourteen females. Accusers often claimed that the witches had caused the death of noble or high-ranking men in society. Men held institutional power in the English patriarchy, which they imposed to subordinate males as counter-codes of masculinity to gain considerable public and personal influence.