approximately half of the males accused had direct involvement with accused women as friends, supporters, or kin (Karlsen, 1987, p. 47). Karlsen concluded that “most witches in New England were middle-aged or old women eligible for inheritances because they had no brothers or sons.” (1987, p. 117). As such, “they stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another.” (Karlsen, 1987, p.116). As land became more scarce in the more settled communities, men began to resent these women who had access to it through a demographic accident. The resentment was expressed in witchcraft accusations. “Whether as actual or potential inheritors of property, as healers or tavern-keepers or merchants,” Karlsen argued, “most accused witches were women who symbolized the obstacles to property and prosperity.” (1987, p. 217).
There are no completely satisfactory explanations for the preponderance of women among the accused. They obviously lived in a male-dominated culture. Men held political and religious power, controlled most property, and were the acknowledged heads of households (Levack, 1987, p. 48). Such circumstances make it tempting to view the accused as women who challenged “prescribed gender arrangements.” (Karlsen, 1987, p.119). This would make them the targets of a misogynist culture unwilling to tolerate females who were assertive, economically independent, or reluctant to defer to men; in short, individuals who had refused to accept their place in the traditional social order. There are, however, several problems with such an explanation.
Little evidence exists that English culture in the seventeenth century experienced “generalized” conflict or hostility between the sexes on either