Abstract
Story is a powerful art form for reflecting society’s values and can often challenge stereotyped identities (Webster, 2024). Fictional narratives of witches have opened the potential of exploring injustices that affect women and consequently, there has been a growth of interest in the female witch and the formation of a new genre named ‘Witch-Lit’ (Thorpe, 2023). ‘Witch-Lit’ has helped move the idea of the witch identity, (together with the stereotype of the bitch) from a negative, patriarchal trope to a position of female agency and power (Atkinson, 2023). Narratives of the Bitch-Witch encourage readers to not have a binary understanding of good and bad and to embrace the ‘bitch’ with the witch so that negative stereotypes of women can be reclaimed, and identities reformed. Fiction that embraces the Bitch-Witch presents women as powerful, strong, and fiercely independent. Using a Foucauldian lens, this paper evaluates how witch narratives are used in contemporary fiction to highlight injustices of women and fight against patriarchy. It explores novels by Celia Rees, Laura Bates, Jen Jekins, Finbar Hawkins and popular TV programmes such as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to analyse how the female protagonist embraces their Bitch-Witch identity and resists the symbolic violence that negatively stereotype vocal, strong, and independent women. Such narratives provide readers with creative examples of the witch and highlight how feminine power and agency is fostered when a woman decides to reclaim and fully embrace the identities of the bitch and the witch that can often be placed upon her.
Presenters
Maggie WebsterSenior Lecturer in Education and Religion, Edge Hill University, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Commonalities and Differences
KEYWORDS
Witch, Narrative, Power, Stereotype, Witch-Lit, Feminist, Popular culture
