Wicked Women
By Goamaar Paul with art by natalie williams
What do the Salem witches, “hysterical” asylum patients, and current powerful women have in common? All are victims of the “mad woman” trope, and all are subjected to trials—whether public or private—as a direct result of their behavior. Society has a reflexive urge to muzzle women who deviate from the expected norm of the three S’s: submissive, sweet, and silent. Ambition, independence, and brashness—traits commonly celebrated when they manifest in men—are in turn condemned when they appear instead in women. Throughout history, dominant behavior in women has been deemed unholy (the Salem witches), pathologized (the female hysteria diagnosis), and publicly condemned.
Even today, to be a woman who exhibits certain traits means to be waiting for your turn at the metaphorical gallows. The advent of social media has only made public humiliations easier. Instead of throwing tomatoes in the town square, spectators can now do it from the comfort of their homes. The expression of dominance and confidence in women comes as a threat to those who subscribe to the patriarchal idea of what a woman “should” be or act like. At the same time, expressions of ultra-femininity also invite ridicule. The trap of expectations for women then becomes apparent: No matter which side of the spectrum a woman leans towards, she is wrong. It is a test with no correct answers, a race with no finish line.
However slowly, we are shifting in the right direction: a world in which women are free to exhibit intensity, drive, authority, and vigor—a world in which women are free to be as “wicked” as they would like to be.