Status Updates From The Malleus Maleficarum

...“readership of the Malleus is bound to have been more restricted than modern preconceptions may initially picture it. It may seem odd in the light of its modern notoriety to say that from its inception the Malleus was a work which exerted a limited practical influence, but the fact is, its numerous early editions do not seem to have stimulated any witch-prosecutions in areas where none had been brought earlier"..

..."Institoris was no more misogynistic than any other writer of his period, and that his animus against women was driven by contemporary physiological theory about their insatiable sexual appetite which gave an easy access to Satan and his evil spirits, and could be used as their base from which they could infect the rest of society"...

🤔 “Institoris’s etymology of femina (“woman”) from fe and minus (“less in faith”) is notorious...
...and of maleficae (“witches”) from maleficiendum (“working harmful magic”) or from male de fide sentiendum (‘having a wicked perception or opinion about the Faith’), emphasised what he saw as the intimate connection between women and wickedness in relation to the Faith.”

I doubt I'll finish it, but curious of this particular piece through an historical aspect, for it's relation of spread of cognitive bias through the use of mass media (printing press).
'The Malleus went through 28 editions between 1486 and 1600 and was accepted by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike as an authoritative source of information concerning Satanism and as a guide to Christian defense.'