Mick Hartley

The dismissal and hatred of older women – witches, hags, mothers-in-law – not only hasn't gone away, it's back in fashion with a vengeance as Karens and Terfs past their sell-by date are vilified by bearded trans-friendly "progressive " bros.

Victoria Smith's new book Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women is reviewed in the Times by Janice Turner:

The left-wing (mainly bearded) men who harangue, vilify or threaten women for the new heresy — that biological sex is real, immutable and meaningful to our lives — claim to be the real feminists. Whereas the women they violently detest — especially the high coven who supped with Goody Rowling — are rebranded bigots, Terfs, Karens, prudish pearl-clutchers, suburban wine moms, killjoys waiting to die. In short, old.

The journalist Victoria Smith clearly wrote Hags to make sense of this strange modern witch-hunt. But her book traces the hatred and fear of the middle-aged woman back through history. At its root, she argues, is the value put upon female fecundity and “f***ability”: once a woman has lost sexual currency, what is she for? Smith writes of “the spite that arises when men deem us to have served our purpose and wonder why we are still here”. […]

As Smith says, witches of old always turned out to be people whom communities had never liked before, like women with independence or property. Ask yourself why male writers who hold JK Rowling’s views don’t face daily death threats. Instead of scold’s bridles, activists silence women by targeting publishers or banning books. I’ve attended meetings where women were merely discussing existing legislation, the 2010 Equality Act, yet windows were bashed, smoke bombs let off, venue owners threatened, and older attendees derided for their droopy breasts or thinning hair. Hag hate is real. When activists post gun memes at female journalists or hope they “die in a grease fire”, you know plenty of new Puritans would gladly light our pyres.

This eloquent, clever and devastating book describes the last remaining acceptable prejudice, one that is now even posited as progress: the loathing of older women. I wish younger feminists would read it too because the dumbest thing about joining a witch-hunt is you’re only burning your future self.