Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

In Defence of Witches: Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet

6 reviews

ka_ke's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Abandonment

arayo's review against another edition

informative

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage, Torture, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Excrement

_annika__'s review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

moraina's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

This book’s subject matter is great - a history of witch trials, and how they shaped our society’s view of women. Chollet tackles many feminist issues, including motherhood, relationships, aging and dying, healthcare biases, etc. She makes points that I hadn’t thought about before and uses relevant examples, especially in the medical section.

That being said, this book was an absolute slough to get through. With many references to magazines, movies, and books that I’d rarely heard of, I struggled to understand the illustrated point for much of the book. This book is also translated from French, so many of these references are probably quite relevant to French culture, but totally lost on an American reader. She did reference many American movies and authors as well, but many were from the 1980s or earlier, so again lost on a 25-year-old reader that doesn’t have an academic background on this subject.

Additionally, I did take issue with huge parts of the book being quotes from other works. My lack of understanding the references aside, I wanted to hear more of the author’s viewpoints or summaries of these works, rather than read paragraphs of quotations. It just felt like it really slowed the book down, and made it difficult to follow the structure and connections she was making between sections. I also agree with other reviews saying that there definitely is not a ton of information to learn about witch trials themselves, it’s more about why the witches of the past were treated the way they were, and how that has persisted in modern society.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Classism

Trigger warnings aren’t necessarily graphic descriptions in this book, but are talked about in the context of and comparing to feminist issues and historical events.

lydiavsbooks's review

challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Mmmm yes.

A few favourite points: the villainisation of older women (aka, women who no longer serve a purpose to men): womens reproduction rights and women who are, voluntarily, childless; and the sexism and misogyny in medicine, particularly midwifery, stemming from the fear of 'witch' healers

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Classism