Misunderstanding a Problem
In old times far away, each gender had its important role in society. Those who complied were accepted as a useful cog. Those who did not were considered outsiders and generally shunned as a possible blight on the rest of the group. A women had the role of being mother and wife. That was considered the role she should fulfill within society. Therefore, the woman who was not married and had no children was believed to be anti-natural. As well as the one who had problems assimilating into society. Nothing good could come of that woman, and popular culture turned her into a witch. And so our cultural representation of a witch as a hunchbacked, ugly old woman with no husband or child, whose closest friend is a farm animal or the handy cat that catches the pesky mice. Of course, we now understand that different walks of life are fine, and that each of us plays a necessary role in society even if we don't marry and have children. And that psychiatric problems are treatable and can ...