Women in Love Magic
Love Magic was seen as drawing “…heavily upon what was perceived as quintessentially feminine: fertility, birth, menstruation (seen as closely related to both fertility and birth), and a woman’s ‘nature’ or ‘shameful parts,’ that is, genitals.”. This feminine attribute is reflected within the literature such as the Malleus Maleficarum, and in the trials of the Holy Office in which most of the cases brought before the council were women accused of bewitching men. This illustrates the common stereotype that men did not do magic. According to both historians Guido Ruggiero and Christopher A. Faraone, love magic often was associated with prostitutes and courtesans. Women in these professions often held psychological power over their partners, sometimes leading to dramatic measures such as witchcraft accusations.
The view of women within the Renaissance can best be illustrated by the Malleus Maleficarum. In the opening section of this text it discusses the sexuality of women in relation to the devil. Heinrich Kramer wrote within his book that, "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable." The Men of the Renaissance feared the sexual power of the opposing gender. They associated it with the devil, making witches out to be sexual partners with demons. Kramer makes the case that a witch received her powers by inviting the devil to enter into carnal relations. Through her sexuality she gains her power, and thus her sexuality is seen as evil and something to be feared. In many of the witchcraft accusations brought before the Holy Office in the Roman Inquisition, men accused women of binding their passions and sexuality by the use of their own sexuality.
While within the literature females dominate the witch world, some scholars believe that reality was much different. Matthew W. Dickie, a prominent magic scholar, argues that men were the main casters of love magic. Demographically they suggest that the largest age group that practiced love magic were younger men targeting young, unobtainable women. There are a variety of explanations for why the literary world contrasted reality in this area, but a common interpretation is that men were trying to subtract themselves from association. Magic was no place for a man, and thus in literature they portrayed themselves as such.
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