Suzanne Harrington: Witches, 'sluts', and feminists — and why we need them

"Just as being labelled “witch” in past centuries resulted in ostracism, abuse, and possible death, being labelled “slut” today still holds immense pejorative power, even in post-feminist societies."

In 1486, a fun-sounding German Catholic, Heinrich Kramer, published his witch-hunter manual, Malleus Maleficarum — which sounds a lot like an Angelina Jolie role — in which he declared 'all witchcraft comes from carnal lust which in women is insatiable'. Well, yes.

It's Halloween week! Like patisserie week, but with witches. What better time to consider my hastily cobbled together theory that men in the Middle Ages accused women of being witches — and murdered 60,000 of them — because of clitoris envy. Did they though? Or have I just totally made that up?

No, really. Were men so jealous of women’s ability to come and come again — and again and again — that they rounded us up, labelled us witches, and accused us of having sex with the devil? Or imps or other fictional beings? It hardly mattered.