By Marta Michnik
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is back on Netflix on the 5th of April. The show tells a story of a half-human, half-witch teenager, balancing her life in the two worlds, with the latter being far from innocent.
Let me just add, I really love all magic related things. After all I grew up reading Harry Potter.
Still, I wonder whether portraying women as witches is a good thing.
Majority of the female leads in Sabrina are practising witches.
While it is fair to assume that a few of our great, great, great aunties sold their souls to Old Nick, witch-hunts were mostly ways of oppressing women who stood out or had unusual skills.
In the modern world, the image of a witch is either adding to the misogyny it originated from or is an empowerment tool for women, who identify as witches to embrace their femininity, rather than announce their cahoots with the Devil.
Sabrina is a great show, but it doesn't seem to take the stigma off the witch image. As fierce as the witches of Sabrina's coven are, it is implied that they are closer to the Devil because of their wicked female nature.
Here is where the story makes a full circle and takes us back to the Garden of Eden, where Eve became the "original sinner".
When Margaret Thatcher died a song called "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" made it to number two on the UK singles chart.
After Australian ex-PM Julia Gillard introduced a controversial carbon tax, angry crowds gathered outside of the Parliament carrying banners, one of them infamously saying "ditch the witch".
My fairly strict maths teacher from high school was nicknamed an "old hag".
I doubt they felt particularly empowered by the witchery.
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