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Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Feb. 17th, 2019 06:42 pmEqual Rites
3/5. Discworld. The Witches books meet the Wizards books, to very . . . CIS gendered effect. Wizard magic is about wiz-boom, you see, and witch magic is about communities and healthcare and childbirth. I am sort of kidding – it is a little more complicated than that – but not by much. This book does half-assedly gesture at the idea that these are the same magic, really, and the gendered rules are stupid. But I'm not convinced Pratchett understood the more fundamental truth: that witch magic is quieter and less flashy and often simply less magic because a woman who acted like a wizard, who displayed that sort of overt power, would be lucky to be stoned to death. Better to be integral to the community quietly, to be feared but not too much. I'm really not sure he got that.
3/5. Discworld. The Witches books meet the Wizards books, to very . . . CIS gendered effect. Wizard magic is about wiz-boom, you see, and witch magic is about communities and healthcare and childbirth. I am sort of kidding – it is a little more complicated than that – but not by much. This book does half-assedly gesture at the idea that these are the same magic, really, and the gendered rules are stupid. But I'm not convinced Pratchett understood the more fundamental truth: that witch magic is quieter and less flashy and often simply less magic because a woman who acted like a wizard, who displayed that sort of overt power, would be lucky to be stoned to death. Better to be integral to the community quietly, to be feared but not too much. I'm really not sure he got that.