The Witch Persecutions and the Untold Story of Female Participation

The feminist movement has effectively whitewashed the history of the witch persecutions and now people believe that it was just men targeting women and it was just that simple. Somehow they get amnesia anytime you bring up the fact that in places like Scotland the Scottish Witchcraft Act was approved by Mary Queen of Scots:

"By touching bills with her sceptre, she assented to several laws, among them, declaring it a capital crime to practice witchcraft"

http://books.google.com/books?id=i8kD_XkHcNcC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=Mary%2C+Queen+of+Scots+witchcraft+act&source=bl&ots=3rv6gfh6lR&sig=7SbISCg9RLHQCR_IjRZ0l3nDELE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hXhoUt7zJ4To9gTcp4HAAw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAzgo#v=onepage&q=witch&f=false


And contrast this with how the feminists tell the history:

"In Lewd Women and Wicked Witches, Marianne Hester reviews and develops revolutionary feminist thinking. Accordingly, she shows how witches can be seen as victims of the oppression of a male dominated society.
Concentrating on English source material, the author shows how witch-hunts may be seen as an historically specific example of male dominance."

http://books.google.com/books/about/Lewd_Women_and_Wicked_Witches.html?id=JaQSVcptVxYC


Witchcraft persecutions in England got started with Elizabeth I's statute:

"Witchcraft persecutions really began in England in 1563 with the statute of Elizabeth I"

http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/witchcraft/w-england16&17/w-england16.html