Slippery Tongues

FROM THE INTRODUCTION:

The Malleus Maleficarum or The Hammer of Witches was published in 1486 with its sole purpose being to erase the existence of witchcraft and witches. The text’s reduction of women’s status to lesser—bearers of evil in every literal sense—was used to justify female genocide in the name of God.

I choose to erase this text to fight back. To give voice to the women who have been erased. Women do not come second. Women will no longer be erased.

I erase to empower.

While the Malleus aimed to elevate the status of men as prominent and untouchable leaders in society, these erasures highlight the disturbing inequalities the text promoted. I aim to dispel any and all accusations that women are wicked.  We are complex; we are powerful.

We are resilient.  

These erasures are multi-layered. They include words from the original text, as well as my own. They do not forget the Malleus Maleficarum’s purpose, but build from, and on top of, the text like bones to muscle to skin.