The Bias Towards Women during the Salem Witch Trials Essay Example

align="justify">Ministers drilled this idea into Sale's citizens' heads.

Ministers allowed Women to be put under prosecution by men who were "serving God", although they were truly serving themselves. Research shows, most of the accusations made by the citizens were false. Some were cries for attention, and others were complete and utter hallucinations. Not only did these accusations of women being evil affect women in general, they also helped stereotypes come even more into place. Stereotypes Ran Sale's Community Research shows, some authors believe most witches were created by stereotypes.

If a woman was "different" compared to other woman, she was most likely categorized as a witch. "If a women had down-syndrome, was epileptic, or even a lesbian, she could have been prosecuted. Even in current times, many women are treated the same way' (Rose). Many authors explained that this occurred because none of Sale's citizens were used to this idea of being "different".

As a result of these stereotypes, many woman were prosecuted for no illegal action. An example of a stereotypical witch in the Salem Witch Trials was being an old women.

The quote "a large proportion of those accused at Salem were indeed quarrelsome old women, some with dubious reputations, who fit the standard seventeenth century stereotype of the witch" (Norton) demonstrates that older women were often like the modern weird and crazy cat ladies that did not fit into the seventeenth century society. Even in the current time, Americans can be quite stereotypical like the time of the Salem Trials.

Many other stereotypes ran Sale's society too (Rose). Research shows not going to church was a big indicator that one was a

witch.

Not going to church at the time, was often thought of as absurd and not natural. For example, two women who were prosecuted Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne were accused Of being witches because they did not attend church. The quote "Neither Sarah Good nor Sarah Osborne attended church, which made [Ms.

Good and Ms. Osborne] easy targets as witches" (Seller 26) demonstrates all of this. Even though Ms. Good and Ms. Osborne could have been forward thinkers about religion, they ere thought of as absurd and not normal citizens in Sale's society.