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Witches as Lovers

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Feminist Afterlives of the Witch

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender ((PSRG))

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Abstract

This chapter considers the long association between sex, sexuality, the family, and the witch. Historically, the witch has been associated with the negation or inverse of the heteronormative, patriarchal family unit and normative designations of bodies and sex. The witch has often, consequently, embodied the antithesis of heteropatriarchal socialities. This chapter interrogates how the mnemonic afterlives of the witch’s anti-sociality continue to haunt contemporary popular culture representations. Texts which consider the witch’s imbrication within regimes of sexual and familial ‘normality,’ which offer feminist iterations of the coven as an alternative social structure, and which incorporate recuperative narratives of the witch’s association with queer sex and sexuality within ‘chosen families’ are analyzed. This chapter is consequently framed through its consideration of the witch as a ‘lover,’ with all of the ensuing romantic, platonic, and familial implications, to open up the debate about the witch’s sex, sexuality, and community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Creative Writing, and Film, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Brydie Kosmina

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  1. Brydie Kosmina
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Correspondence to Brydie Kosmina .

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Kosmina, B. (2023). Witches as Lovers. In: Feminist Afterlives of the Witch. Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25292-1_5

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