女性因何成为近代早期欧洲猎巫运动的主要受害者

Why Did Women Become the Main Victims of Witch-Hunts in Early Modern Europe?

近代早期欧洲"猎巫运动"的一个显著特征就是女性成为主要受害者。是何种原因导致了这一现象的发生?自20世纪70年代始,一些女性主义学者认真讨论这个问题,并使之逐渐进入史学家的视野。此后,各派别的猎巫研究专家围绕"巫师是否等于女性"、"厌女症是否是导致女性成为猎巫运动主要受害者之根源"、"猎巫与该时期的两性冲突、父权和君权之强化及男权社会的重构是否存在直接联系"等展开深入探讨,分别给出各自的阐释。几乎所有女性主义学者以及少数学院派专家对之做了肯定的答复,而大多数学院派学者则持否定态度。其中一个重要趋向是,自20世纪90年代以后,各派学者都承认社会性别理论在阐释这一问题中的重要作用,从而使性别与巫术和猎巫的研究从史学研究的边缘移至中心,并导致相关研究在20世纪末与21世纪初期逐渐走向深化与多元化。

One of the most notable features of witch-hunts in early modern Europe was that their victims were mainly women.The causes of this phenomenon were initially discussed by feminist scholars in the 1970 s,whence it was gradually taken up by historians.Scholars of different schools have since then gone deeply into the question,offering explanations to issues like 'Were witches all women?' 'Was misogyny the reason women were the main victims of witch-hunts?' 'Were witch-hunts directly related to the gender conflict,the intensification of patriarchy and autocracy,and the reconstruction of a patriarchal society?' Almost all feminist scholars and a few academics have given a positive answer to these questions,but most academics reject this approach.An important trend,however,is that since the '90s,scholars of all schools have affirmed the importance of gender theory;research on gender and witchcraft,and witch-hunts have become the focus of historical research,so that the relevant research century has deepened and diversified in the late 20^(th) century and early 21^(st)century.